Stereotypes: The One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games
by Golden Moon Huntress
Summary: Over the hills and far away, twenty four stereotyped and cliché tributes come to enter a ridiculously overly complicated arena in a fight to the death. Join them on their quest through this trope ridden world, but remember, only one can emerge victorious.
1. Historical Events

**Author's Note**

This is not a SYOT.

I do not own the Hunger Games.

I don't even really own many of the ideas behind these tributes or the story.

See the end of the chapter for full author's notes. Feel free to skip to them.

* * *

 **District Ten Male, Colby Marshall (18)**

 ** _Seven years ago_**

Colby was eleven when his father died.

He had been herding the cows in one of the back fields when he heard the commotion. By the time he got there a tarp had been laid over his father's body. Blood leaked out from underneath it. The other fieldhands tried to hide it from him and old Shane took him by the arm.

"Come on boy. Such things aren't for you to be seeing."

Colby didn't want to move. He wanted to see what was under the tarp. He wanted to his father really was dead. Gone. He would never lift a hand to him again.

Colby laughed.

He laughed and laughed and laughed until Angus managed to drag him away.

Colby was twelve when he hit his mother for the first time. He was already bigger than her, and she had no right to tell him to do anything, let alone send him to the shops for women's work.

She never did that again.

He was thirteen when his mother threw him out. He could hit her, she said, and take the role of his father. He could hit and scream at her all he wanted, but he was never, ever, to lay a finger on one of his siblings.

Her brother, Colby's 'Uncle Dale,' took him in. He said something about straightening him out. Colby spent long hours smashing logs for firewood, herding the beasts, and sleeping in a poorly heated attic. Dale was a softie really, he never lifted a hand to him. Hard work, fresh air, and good food was what he believed in.

Moron.

He was fifteen when he left his cousin Peggy in serious condition in hospital. She survived, though scarred. It was her own fault. What did she expect flaunting herself like that and then demanding things? Dale was still too much of a coward to do anything. He told him to pack a bag and start walking, because if he ever saw him again he would make him into pig food. He didn't have the guts but Colby left anyway.

He was nearly sixteen by then, so he applied to live by himself in an out of the way hunting cabin. He kept his job at the Juno Ranch, since he needed the money and was one of the strongest wranglers they had.

Colby was sixteen when he killed his first girl.

She was older than him, in her twenties, gorgeous, with this thick blonde hair and big blue eyes. He picked her up in a pub, and it was probably a miracle he got away with it, except she explained she had no family. No one to miss her. She told him she liked the dangerous guys, it gave her a thrill, and they got drunker and drunker and went back to his. She asked him what gave him that thrill. He killed her. He hadn't really meant to, not that first time, but it happened. He buried her far out on the free grazing land. Months later he heard they found her body, but it was decomposed beyond recognition.

Colby breathed a sigh of relief and wanted to do it again.

 **District Nine Female, Maizie Miller (16)**

 ** _Five years ago_**

Her mother wouldn't stop crying. Maizie wrapped her arms around her legs and waited. There was nothing else to be done.

The cameras opened into a mountainous arena, rocky, topped with snow. The cornucopia was sat in a low dip, and the tributes Zinnia up around it. Maizie picked out Earp, with his golden blonde hair and strong build. He was glancing around himself, signalling to Poppy, the girl from their district. Maybe they were allying.

"He can do this," Maizie said, half to herself, half to her mother. "He can do this."

He escaped the bloodbath with Poppy, a sickle, and a backpack. The two of them found shelter in the mountains. Maizie had nightmares at night of him being slaughtered while she slept. She was pretty sure her mama didn't sleep.

On the fourth day Earp and Poppy were attacked by some kind of beaver mutt. They escaped, but Poppy's arm was badly mauled. The Capitol commentators said Earp should leave her, but he wouldn't. Poppy hadn't been some stranger, even before they entered the Games. She had been in Earp's class at school Maizie knew. They might not have been friends, but he wouldn't leave her.

They made it to the seventh day, and then they ran into the Careers. The girls from One and Four slaughtered Poppy, and the boys from One and Two hunted Earp down like an animal and put a spear through his back.

Maizie cried for days.

Everyone around her was so sympathetic. Maizie hated it. She hated their pitying looks, their simpering words, the way they looked at her. She would give it all up to have Earp back.

At night she dreamt of monsters with human faces, of mutts that tore her limbs off, of her brother lying in a pool of blood.

She never dreamt of him whole. She never dreamt of their childhood. She never dreamt of his loving smile, the way he could pick her up and spin her round, his hand ruffling her hair. When she saw him she could only ever see him dead.

The day she turned sixteen she realised she had lived longer than her big brother did.

 **District One Female, Diamond Blush (17)**

 ** _Four years ago_**

Tiara looked incredible in her chariot costume. Her skin had been painted gold, her blond hair twisted around her head and face like a crown. She looked like a Queen. She looked like a Victor.

Diamond cheered for her score of eleven in training.

She clapped for her interview, when Tiara wore a stunning silver gown with a low cut front and looked like the picture of beauty. She smiled when her podium Zinnia into an arena of ice and snow and frozen marble statues that looked like her. It was obvious who the Capitol favourite was that year. She cheered and boasted to her friends when she scored four kills at the bloodbath, more than anyone in the past four Games. Five tributes froze to death that year, and two more were killed by mutts. Two of the Careers died of hypothermia, and the tributes from Two killed each other in a fight over a spare jacket. There was very little real competition for Tiara. Still, Diamond smiled and screamed and laughed when she killed the District Eight boy and emerged from that arena victorious.

But when she came back everything was different.

She had always been their parents' favourite of course, the golden girl, first place in the academy, but Diamond was still their daughter. She still mattered. Now though, Tiara could do no wrong. Even when she drank and passed out in the garden she could do no wrong. She was more than just their parents' favourite now though: she was the District's newest Victor, their golden girl, their newest hero, and Diamond…

Diamond was just nothing.

They moved into the Victor's village and Tiara mocked her. She drank, and she danced, and she drank, and she played music loud enough to shatter one's eardrums until the sun came up, and she mocked her. Diamond didn't volunteer; Diamond didn't win; Diamond isn't good enough, isn't pretty enough, isn't tough enough to represent District One.

Her parents moved on to fawning over her brother, because now they had a female Victor they wanted a male one, and what was Diamond?

Diamond was nothing.

She was nothing, and so she spent long hours training until she was more than nothing. She was the best. She was better than the best. She was the academy's golden girl, she was their favourite, she was their princess, their future Victor.

Just like all the other girls.

No.

"I'm not like them," she said to her reflection in the mirror, who was wearing her training clothes, a grey top and black trousers. "I'm better than them."

She was better than them. Her only real competition was Sparkle, who was an expert eighteen year old swordfighter. And they put her eleventh. Eleventh! Her! Eleventh was somehow even worse than lower down, because it meant she had only just been bumped out of those favoured to volunteer.

"There's always next year," said Platinum, her brother, rather unhelpfully.

Next year. Diamond didn't think she could take another year of this. And Tiara won at eighteen. If she won at seventeen, then she would be better, and their parents wouldn't be able to deny it.

 **District Four Male, Orion Achoda (18)**

 ** _Three years ago_**

Astoria looked incredible when she danced. The dim lights of the grimy club reflected from her eyes and made her hair glitter and skin shine. She twisted and spun around the pole, playing in the light, dancing amongst the shadows.

"Do you feel as alive as you look when you dance?" Orion asked when she came down from the stage after her performance. She was the youngest of the dancers there tonight, one of the youngest dancers in the club altogether, barely fifteen.

"It's a buzz," Astoria replied. "It's like... like for a short while you can stop worrying about life and training, and where our next meal's going to come from, and all that matters is you and the music and the rhythm and performing. You don't have to think about anything except your routine.

He saw Astoria practising her routines, sometimes, when she thought no one could see. Secrecy was difficult in their tiny cramped house, and even harder when one shared a room. In the end, it was Astoria's idea. "You know," she said, "there are male dancers. And people pay more for a pair."

People, it turned out, paid even more when that pair was boy-girl twins with a heavy resemblance. And Astoria was right about the dancing. For a short time in his life, it felt like everything stopped, and there was nothing but him and Astoria and the music and the routine. Their reflections twisted together in the mirror, spinning, spiralling, the light playing across their skin. During some of their routines they ended up so close together that in the distorted shine of the pole and the oily floor their reflections looked like one person, one shadow with too many limbs. The women loved his figure, his physique. Pearl Cascade in particular would pay rather a lot for them to perform privately. They ate him up just as much as the men devoured Astoria with their eyes. And of course there were some men that watched him, just as Astoria's gaze followed some of her fellow female dancers, but what did it matter so long as they were watching and paying?

They danced in the evening and the shadows of the night, and during the day they attended the academy. When they first started it had only been for the food and education it provided, but they had come to enjoy it. And the Games were a way out. If he won, they would never have to dance again, they could do it only when they liked, when they wanted to, in clean halls, in carpeted rooms where no one was watching, even if having people watching was half the fun. If he won the Games it could be on their terms. If they wanted they could perform for Capitolites. He never imagined that it would only be him dancing, never, because they came as a pair when they danced. They weren't just two people when the music played. If he won the Games they would be free. Free of the tiny house that Halley worked so hard for, free of the masks, free of the lies.

The academy listed him in the top five students for the boys. Astoria's name was there amongst the girls. If he won, they were free.

 **District Eight Female, Tyla Calico (17)**

 ** _One year ago_**

 _Push. Harder. Faster. Strike._

Sometimes Tyla hears those phrases in her sleep, going round and round inside her skull. She asks herself why she does this to herself. District Eight was not a Career District, and she was not going to throw her life away for glitz and glory.

 _Push. Harder. Faster. Strike._

And then she remembers seeing the tributes, those that are unprepared, and they are cut down screaming.

 _Push. Harder. Faster. Strike._

The two from last year were young, thirteen for the boy and fourteen for the girl. They didn't even make it out the bloodbath. The Careers slaughtered them as they tried to flee.

"Just a bit further," Tyla tells herself. "Just one more street, and then you can rest."

She remembers the look on Velvet's face as her name was called, how frightened her cousin was. She made it out of the bloodbath, at least, and even reached the final eight, only to be killed by the boy from Four.

"Just a bit further," Tyla told herself when she got to the end of the street. She would be ready if her name was called. She was no bloodthirsty career, but she would be ready.

 _Push. Harder. Faster. Strike._

The 'training room' in her basement is really nothing of the sort, probably nothing like what they have in the Career Districts. It flooded twice in the last winter, and three times the year before that. Tyla didn't really mind. It made things a bit more challenging. Her fist pounded into the punching bag.

 _Push. Harder. Faster. Strike._

Her name was not called at the reaping. Tyla allowed herself a day off to celebrate. But just because it was not called this year did not mean it wouldn't be called next year.

And if it was, she would be ready.

 _Push. Harder. Faster. Strike._

 **District Six Female, Kara Transson (17)**

 ** _Six months ago_**

Everyone in the lower part of District Six knew of the Transson siblings, regardless of whether they'd ever met them. Everyone knew their names, their reputation.

The fire that ripped through the district eight years ago had left many children without a parent, house, or money. The result was a society that lived on the streets, traversed the sewers and rooftops, stole and damaged and broke, all in an attempt to survive. Axle Transson's was the biggest. He commanded a virtual army of kids, bitter kids, kids who were angry with the world, with the people who looked down on them. Kara had never been prouder of her big brother. When none of those said to be their betters, their employers, their jailors, stepped forward to help, he played guardian to a dozen frightened, orphan children and taught them how to survive. Their family only grew from there. Kara didn't have four brothers. She had four dozen and more, and sisters as well. They cared for her more than her mother ever had.

Sometimes Kara dreamt she was burning. She never could quite understand why. The fire that destroyed much of the District never touched her, never scorched her skin, but in her dreams and memories it ate her alive as she watched the buildings go up in flames one by one. Otto shook her awake and they climbed onto the roof of the condemned factory they called home. Oh, the building should have been torn down years ago, and yet somehow the District and the Capitol architects had never gotten round to it.

"Another nightmare?" he asked.

"Look at this place Otts," she said, perching on the railing and gazing up in the direction of the Rich part of the district, where the High and Mighty lived on their gilded streets.

"One day, it's all going to burn. Every last bit of it back to ashes."

"That fire was a freak event K. It was a tragedy, don't get me wrong, and one we've done well from, but it was a freak event."

She laughed and shook her head. "No, Otts. Look. Really look. It's overcrowded. It's unsafe. It's dirt poor. And they might think they're safe up there in their golden towers, but they're not." She tipped her head back to stare at the murky night sky. "I'll light the match if I have to."

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Okay, so this is down here because I dislike long author's notes at the start of chapters. Show of hands! How many people just skipped straight down here to find out what this was all about? It's okay, I don't mind. I'd have done the same.

As stated above, this is not a SYOT, simply because I don't think I would be able to handle one. All the respect to those of you who can! I know how disappointing it is when SYOTs get abandoned, and I don't want to let anyone down, so all the tributes involved in this story are of my own creation.

All the tributes are meant to have at least one trope, stereotype or cliché seen in Hunger Games fics attached to them. Some have more than one, because why not? They're not meant to be Mary Sues, although some of them inevitably are, and some are absolutely cardboard cutouts. All twenty four tributes will be seen, though some get more focus and time than others. I will put out a full tribute list once the reaping chapter goes up.

You might have guessed this, but the story isn't going to be super serious or realistic, and there might be a few moments of parody. It's essentially as many clichés and as much ridiculousness as I feel I can cram into a fairly serious fic. If you run across a moment that seems to have a gap in logic, a plot hole, or just makes you want to shout 'that's not how it works!' it's either deliberate or something I've looked at and gone 'eh, good enough' and left be. I like to think that it's generally cohesive, but there might be bits that go against the usual head canons or beliefs. Just for good fun some other pet peeves have been tossed in there as well.

You may critique my writing if you like, though I am aware that in many places it isn't the best. This started as a bit of fun and the style is deliberate.

As I said, this started as a bit of fun and none of it is meant to be insulting or targeted at anyone, but if you do feel that I'm unfairly and deliberately targeting a specific tribute, story, author, or parodying one of your tributes in particular please do let me know and we can talk about it like reasonable people.

Feel free to guess at what you think the tropes, stereotypes and clichés attached to the characters are and suggest others. I've tried to include as that I could think of but I've probably missed some, so feel free to suggest more in the reviews and if I haven't got them I'll see if I can shove them in!


	2. The Calm Before the Storm

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games

Also, I forgot to mention it last chapter, but a general warning that there might be some swear words used throughout the story.

* * *

 **The Calm Before the Storm**

 **District Two Female: Valkyrie Slate (12)**

"Atalanta," Valkyrie whispered, crouching in front of the door. "Atalanta. You awake?"

"Valkyrie," her sister mumbled. "What you want brat?"

"Can I come in?"

"Whatever."

Valkyrie slipped inside, careful to close the door quietly behind her. Their parents would be furious if they caught her in here again. She tiptoed over to the bed. Atalanta looked so pale, her dark hair plastered to her face. "What you want?"

"Nothing really. Just to see you. How do you feel today?"

"Terrible," Atalanta grunted. "Let's see now shall we? I'm dying of some mysterious disease that no one can diagnose instead of out there competing to be this year's female tribute."

"They'd pick an eighteen year old anyway. You've still got time."

"Only if I get better yesterday and start training today. I'm way too far behind the others. I'd never catch up."

"When I'm eighteen, I'm going to volunteer and get you the medicine you need."

Atalanta snorted. "It'll be six years too late brat. Now go on, scram, before I shout mum and dad again."

Valkyrie scurried back to her room and crouched on her bed in the darkness. Medicine in District Two was better than, say, medicine in Twelve, but they needed more. They needed Capitol level medicine and equipment. But the Capitol would never provide that. Not unless they had a very good reason.

Like them being a Victor's family member.

Like the Victor demanding it.

Valkyrie sprang to her feet and rushed back to Atalanta's room, nudging the door open. "Atalanta!"

"What you want now brat?"

"Do you still hear stuff from the academy?"

"Like what?"

"Like who's most likely to be the female Volunteer this year."

Atalanta rolled over to face her. "What you thinking of brat?"

"Something I'm going to need your help with. Do you have that list of who was applying this year?"

Atalanta sighed. "It'll be here somewhere. Try in my desk. First drawer down."

Her desk drawers were full of scraps of paper, doctors' documentation and old letters from the academy proclaiming her athletic successes. At last Valkyrie came up triumphant with this year's shortlist and hurried back to Atalanta. "Do you know who they'll most likely pick?"

Atalanta glanced down the list. "Dunno. They're all pretty good."

"You need to try Atalanta. Please, try."

"Get me a pencil."

Atalanta struck two names off the list on account of them being too soft hearted, and Valkyrie herself wiped out a third when she remembered the girl in question broke her leg two weeks ago. It had been the talk of the academy. That still left them nine potential candidates.

"There has to be something else."

Atalanta closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath, opened her eyes and jabbed the pencil at the seventh name down. "If I was laying money, it would be on her." She turned to Valkyrie. "That what you're doing brat? Laying money for more doctors?"

Valkyrie smiled brightly. "I thought it might help."

Atalanta sighed and ruffled her hair. "Imp."

 **District Twelve Female, Briar Flint (16)**

When she woke up the bed was cold and the house smelt like burning fried eggs. Briar stretched out, enjoying the space for a moment, before deciding that burning should definitely be checked on.

She found her fourteen year old sister, Lily, in the other room of the house serving up the somewhat burnt eggs.

"Guess what?" Lily asked.

"You burnt the eggs?"

"No! Those birds of Rosemary's finally came through and actually laid something! So I made us fried eggs for this morning."

Slightly burnt fried eggs, Briar decided not to say. Instead she stuck her head outside to find hers and Lily's younger sister Rosemary, or Rosie for short, sat with one of her chickens on her lap. Unlike most from the Seam, Rosie had pale blonde hair and blue eyes. Briar herself had the dark hair and olive skin of the Seam and oddly coloured eyes, her left being the same sky blue as Rosie and her right the same slate grey as Lily.

"Put that thing down and get inside. Breakfast is served."

"Yes Briar." Rosie set the chicken down. It hurried off to join its flock in the makeshift pen. When Briar found the chicks abandoned in a box by the market, her first thought had been to make stew out of them, but Rosie, of course soft hearted Rosie, insisted on taking care of them and raising them into a flock of absolute terrors – er, fully grown hens. They grew into fully grown hens. For several months they had had an odd few small eggs, but nothing substantial. Briar had begun to wonder why the chicks were abandoned.

In the house, Lily had managed to coral their mother through to the kitchen. "You should eat something. It'll help get your strength up."

"But why?"

Briar sighed. One of those days. Without further ado she took their mother's plate and doled it out between the three of them.

"Briar!" protested Lily.

"We're going to the reaping today. We should keep our strength up."

"What if I'm reaped?" whispered Rosie.

"You've only got one slip in that entire bowl. I've got twenty five, and there are plenty with more than me. You won't be reaped."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

Sweet baby Rosie would never last five minutes in the arena. Lily might, she could step up when she needed to, but not Rosie. Rosie hated to even kill spiders and insisted instead on guiding them carefully out of the house. Sometimes Briar despaired.

Finished with her breakfast, she pulled on her jacket.

"Where are you going?"

"Out to the woods, see if I can find something for tea tonight."

"Don't be too long Briar, please," Lily replied. "You know they switch the fence on before the reaping."

That was the only time it was switched on. Otherwise people could, and quite frankly did, come and go as they wished. Briar had considered time after time simply taking her sisters and escaping to the woods, but it would mean either leaving their mother, which Rosie would never do, or somehow getting her to go with them, which also seemed unlikely.

"I'll be back before then."

 **District Eleven Female, Zinnia Kane (17)**

The District always felt deathly quiet on the day of the reaping. Zinnia could muscle through the crowd with more ease than usual, people meekly giving way to her grim face and determined stride. She ordered eight iced buns from the bakery and slammed her meagre coins down on the counter. It was an extravagance she could not usually afford, but today was reaping day. They always had a sweet treat for after the reaping.

At home her brother Juniper met her in the doorway. "What did you get?"

"Buns," she grunted, passing him the box. "Hide them quick, before father sees."

He nodded and hurried off to hide the buns away. Daizee was crying at the table, while Susan, only a year older at thirteen, comforted her.

"It'll be alright. There's plenty of kids with more slips in there than you. All we gotta do is stand in the corals, wait for them to pick someone, and then come home and feast."

Daizee sniffled. Zinnia sighed and strode through to her shared bedroom, where she found Robyn sat on the bed patching her dress. Daizee was right to be scared. This year was the first year all six of the Kane siblings would have their names in one of the reaping balls. Next year would be the second, and then Zinnia would age out. Just two more years. Two more years where the chances of one of them being reaped were higher than ever, especially since she had nine more slips in the bowl this year than last, bringing her total up to fifty four. Zinnia felt vaguely sick. She took a mouthful of water from the glass on the side and set about changing into her blue dress. Robyn fluttered around her and insisted on doing her hair. "You look… Presentable."

"Thanks."

"Now if only you'd smile instead of looking so intimidating all the time you might find a boyfriend."

"Maybe I don't want a boyfriend."

"Fine then, a girlfriend." Robyn grinned. "Like Dahlia."

Zinnia scowled. "Absolutely not."

"You so like her."

"Shut up."

Juniper stuck his head round the door. "Can one of you come talk to Daizee? She's still crying."

"Where's mom?"

"Getting ready. She's real busted up, you know how pop gets on reaping day."

Zinnia did, all too well. Last year it had been her he beat to a pulp and she attended the reaping with two black eyes.

"You go Robyn. You're best at stuff like that."

Robyn laughed. "You just tell yourself that."

Their pop's voice echoed through the tiny house. "Stop that fucking wailing or I'll give you something to cry about!"

The three of them ran through to the kitchen. Daizee hugged Robyn.

"Don't you worry. Just look at Zinnia. She's never been picked now has she?" Robyn said. Zinnia smiled.

"Not yet."

 **District One Male, Lucian Prince (18)**

If he had been born in another district this wouldn't be happening right now. He wouldn't be sat here at the table listening to his dad ramble on and on about how today was the big day. District eight, he decided. He had seen blonde, green eyed tributes from there before, and one thing he did not want was too lose his looks. He was much too handsome for that.

"I know you'll do the right thing and do us proud," his dad continued as Lucian picked at his food. It was his own fault really. He had been an overly eager ten year old, desperate to fit in with all his cool friends, and signed up at the academy. As the years went by he trained more and more, and at sixteen the trainers told him he would make a wonderful volunteer in the next couple of years.

That should have rung the alarm bells. Lucian never wanted to volunteer. He never wanted to actually kill people. He just wanted to fit in with everyone else.

"Now, Lucian, are you listening to me?"

He could never have imagined the academy would contact his parents, never imagined that his parents, upon hearing he was amongst the top students, would join everyone else in pushing for him to volunteer.

District Nine, he remembered suddenly. They had blonde tributes sometimes, though their hair was usually darker than his, and he might not have had his beautiful green eyes. Still, the District Nine boys could be pretty good looking. There was that one sixteen year old a few years back who was definite hot stuff.

"Mm," he mumbled through a mouthful of bacon. What was his name again? Some ridiculous District Nine name; it had been a shame. He would have to go through life never telling anyone his name if he'd been given a name like Urp or whatever it was.

"Your mum and I have been talking."

There were blonde tributes from District Twelve occasionally he supposed, but they weren't beautiful like him. Besides, District Twelve was the poorest of all the Districts. Why would he want to be from there?

"Mm."

Where else was there? Two and Four would have presented him with the same problem here that he didn't want. Oh! Ten! Ten had blonde tributes sometimes. Even ones with green eyes. He could keep his amazing looks! It would definitely have been between Nine and Ten then.

"And we've decided that if you don't volunteer we will have no choice but to leave you on the streets."

Lucian nearly spat his bacon out. "What?"

"You see Lucian, we're a proud family with a good reputation. We can't be seen to have a son who backed out of volunteering. So, you're going to get up there on that stage later and make us proud. I know you can do it."

 **District Three Female, Data Huxley (18)**

After she finished throwing up, Sean greeted her in the kitchen with a plate of cold toast and glass of water. "I made you this, but I guess you won't want it right now."

"No point in wasting food," Data replied, selecting a slice of toast and nibbling around the edges. Sean took another.

"How are you feeling?"

Data brushed one hand over her bulging stomach. "Queasy. I don't think Little One likes Reaping day."

Sean laughed. "No one likes Reaping day. They've got good sense, just like their mum."

Data smiled, but her heart still pounded in her chest. She was still eighteen for another three weeks. She could be reaped, and Little One along with her. What then?

"Would you marry?" she asked.

"What?"

"Would you marry someone else, if I died?"

"Wow that's a morbid question love."

"I'm curious."

Sean sighed heavily. "I dunno. Maybe, eventually, if I met someone. A lifetime's a long time to spend alone." He leant forward to kiss her forehead. "But don't you worry. You and Little One are going to be around for a long time yet, and I'll be right here with you."

Data smiled. She wished it felt genuine, but something deep inside her said it was different this year, and it wasn't just because she had Little One to think about.

They walked down to the square hand in hand. Sean kissed her and touched her stomach as Little One kicked. "I'll see you both on the other side. Love you."

"Love you too," Data whispered as he vanished into the crowd to watch from the sidelines. She brushed her hand over her stomach. "Love you too."

 **District Six Male, Logan Ford (16)**

Most of the little weaklings on the street were crying, scared for the reaping. Logan had nothing to worry about. His name was only in the bowl five times, and his father was one of the richest men in the District. They wouldn't dare reap him!

A woman in a low cut dress was having a smoke outside a bar. Logan swaggered over, puffing out his chest. "Hey honey. Want to earn some extra after the reaping?"

"Come back when you're older."

"I've got plenty. I'll show you a good time."

"You're much too young for me short stuff."

"Don't you know who I am?"

She stumped out her cigarette. "Nope, and I don't care."

"I'll be talking to your boss about this!"

Her boss was a man in a green suit and very apologetic. He introduced Logan to a younger dancer called Demica, who got him a drink and walked down to the reaping with him.

"I'm sure they wouldn't reap a man of your importance, so I'll see you on the other side."

Logan slapped her bum as she left for the girls' section and pushed his way to the front of the line for the boys.

"Next," shouted the woman at the desk. Logan stepped up. She glanced at him. "I believe this boy here was next." She indicated a tiny blonde weakling.

"I'm next," Logan grunted. She rolled her eyes.

"Hold your hand out."

He went to do so and she grabbed his wrist, shoving it into the machine. It flashed blue and pricked his fingers.

"Logan Ford, sixteen. Five slips. Go in and stand in the sixteen sector."

The metal barrier rose to let him through.

"Next!"

* * *

 **Author's Note**

So here's chapter two, with six new tributes! What do you think? Any guesses on what stereotypes and tropes these six have? If you have any clichés and pet peeves you want to suggest, feel free to review or message me.

Big thank you to TheAmazingJAJ for reviewing last chapter and BabyRue and Goldie for following the story!

Next chapter's the reaping, so stay tuned for that!


	3. The Reaping Part One

**Chapter Three: The Reaping Part One**

 **Author's Notes**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

Felicity Fierce took her seat, which was slightly to the left of the stage centre. Her prep team helped to fix her bulky skirts and touched up her makeup.

"Reapings start in four minutes Felicity," said her assistant Fantasio through her earpiece. Tallulah puffed out her purple curls and leant over her shoulder to kiss her cheek.

"Knock 'em dead."

Felicity smiled at her back as the prep team hurried off stage.

"Alright Felicity, you're live in three," said Fantasio.

The lights at the front of the stage dimmed, revealing her to the crowd seated in the stands. They seated six hundred, only the elite who could afford tickets, under sixteens not permitted.

"Two."

She found the central camera, gave it a winning smile.

"And one. Action."

"Good evening Panem," she started. The crowd cheered.

"My name is Felicity Fierce and this is of course the live reapings for this year's One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games!"

The applause was louder this time, filling the set. She leant back in her chair. "Now, before we get started, we've got some very special guests for this evening. First up, please welcome Gloria Richards from District One, Victor of the One Hundred and Eighteenth Hunger Games!"

The crowd roared with approval. Even after sixteen years, Gloria remained one of the most popular Victors there had ever been. She made her way across the stage, blonde hair loose and tumbling down her back, wearing a thin silver dress, and took the seat opposite Felicity.

"Gloria, wonderful to have you here."

"A pleasure to be here again Felicity," murmured the former Career.

"And of course we'll be starting with the reapings from your District! They're about to begin!"

The image of a square filled with people appeared on the screen. The District One mayor was finishing his speech, and giving way to Tiberius Vanuna, who had been the District One Escort for fifteen years now, and brought home four Victors during that time.

"Isn't it good to see you all here again boys and girls?" he called. "Hello to all the familiar faces, and to the newbies at the front there. But you don't want to listen to me rambling. So, who wants to be our female tribute this year?"

The reaping balls in One had been removed eighteen years ago since they seemed pointless. One always provided volunteers. This year was no different. An explosion of noise erupted from the crowd and the camera panned round to give a better view of the girls, where several fights had broken out amongst the would-be tributes. Spurred on by their distraction, a few girls from the fifteen pen surged forward, only to be shoved aside by a girl from the seventeens in a tight, sparkly red dress, who sprinted to the stage, her high heels dangling from one hand.

"Ah, hello young lady," greeted Tiberius. "And what might your name be?"

"Diamond Blush," she snapped, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder and glaring out at the crowd. "And I'm here to become District One's newest Victor."

"Ah yes, I knew I knew your face. You must be Tiara's little sister."

Diamond smiled. "That's me!" She waved at the line of Victors, where Tiara Blush, Victor of the One Hundred and Thirtieth Games, sat.

"Of course, of course. Now, who's going to be this lovely lady's district partner?"

Again the crowd erupted and several boys hurled themselves forward, but this time the winner appeared much faster, a tall blonde boy wearing a green shirt that matched his glittering green eyes.

"Ah, hello. And what would your name be?"

"Lucian Prince," announced the boy, staring into the back of the crowd. "And I'll be giving little Miss Princess here a run for her money!"

Diamond glared at him.

"Nice to meet you Lucian. District One, your tributes for the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Games: Diamond Blush and Lucian Prince!"

"Exciting scenes from District One. Gloria, can you tell us anything about these two? What do you know about the Princess, Diamond?" Felicity asked.

"They're going to be tough competition. I don't know Lucian personally, but I've heard he's won several competitions. Diamond is top of her class at the academy, and from what I've seen a little firecracker."

Felicity laughed. "Two beautiful and deadly tributes there from District One then folks."

Their looks alone ought to be enough to earn them some support. Their pictures moved from the big screen to the one on the far left.

"Now, it's time for us to be moving on to District Two!"

A roaring cheer went up. District Two was always popular. The feed switched to their square, which was bordered by thick, black walls, with an onyx black stage at the centre. Their escort, Belladonna, was stood in front of the mic, talking all about how happy she was to be back this year.

As the scene continued, two more figures joined Belladonna on stage. While Felicity couldn't be certain, it looked as though she shied slightly away before composing herself. She could hardly blame her.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your mentors for this year, Grayson and Jeana Darkstone!

The two stepped up to the microphone, perfectly in sync as usual. There was a reason they were not considered the most popular Victors: that reason was that they were frankly quite creepy. Having interviewed them several times in the past Felicity hated the way their black eyes looked at her. They made her skin crawl. Even looking at them on screen made her stomach twist.

"It is an honour to be serving as mentors this year," Grayson said, his voice flat. Jeana only stood there and stared out at the square.

"Of course, of course. Now, would you like to announce the tributes for this year or shall I?"

For thirty four years now, since the disaster that was the reaping for the One Hundredth Games, the District Two reapings had been done like this, with the tributes being decided ahead of times and announced with a speech by either the mentors or the escort. It prevented issues such as happened quite often in District One. Grayson opened the envelope in his hands. Jeana made as though to do the same and then stopped herself.

"The male tribute for this year has been an excellent student at the Blastburn Academy for many years. He has won twelve competitions and is highly skilled as a swordsman and combatant, with a keen strength and confidence in himself that makes him an exceptional leader and role model. It is for these reasons Maximus Darkstone has been chosen as the male tribute for this year."

That wasn't unexpected. It had been flying around online for weeks now that the youngest of the Darkstone children turned eighteen this year, and if they were going to have the full set for Victors it would have to be now.

Belladonna gave a wide smile. "Can we have a round of applause for mister Maximus Darkstone? Where are you Maximus?"

From the back of the male section stepped a broad shouldered young man clad in a blue shirt and black trousers straining against his muscular figure. He strode to the stage with a slowly widening grin. He stood as tall as Grayson, though wider in the shoulders and thicker in the legs.

"It's an honour to be chosen to follow in my family's footsteps. I won't let you down District Two!"

"It'll be an honour to work with you Maximus. Now then, who will be your partner for this year?"

Most likely Maximus already knew, especially given his family. Felicity suspected the tributes were informed ahead of time who had been selected. It was, technically speaking, against the rules, but it made things fun and so nothing had ever been done about it. Jeana ripped open her envelope. "Deciding the female tribute for this year was no easy task. There were many exceptional candidates, all of which we are sure will go on to do incredible things. However, one young lady did manage to come up with an outstanding performance, and displayed remarkable talent with her chosen weapon. It is down to that performance that Anastasia Montgomory has been chosen as this year's female tribute."

Belladonna beamed out at the crowd. "Can we have a round of applause for Miss Anastasia Montgomory? Come on up here Anastasia!"

The camera panned in to the older girls, where the District Two tributes usually came from. Thirty seconds passed. More. The girls were looking around each other. In the studio the audience began to murmur.

"Well, it looks like Two has a reluctant tribute this year folks? Any ideas what's going on Gloria?"

The former Victor shook her head. On screen Belladonna cleared her throat. "Ahem. I have just been informed that Anastasia was unfortunately taken seriously ill this morning and is so unable to attend."

"Well, isn't that a turn about for events?" Felicity asked. A ripple of murmuring ran around the audience.

"Do you know what happens now Gloria?"

Gloria stared up at the screen. "I have spoken to Victors from Two about this before. This also happened in one of the earlier Games, the One Hundred and Ninth I think, and since then they've always had a second choice tribute."

Indeed, a man with blue hair was scurrying onto stage with a new envelope for Jeana. She tore it open. "We had many remarkable candidates this year, so please do not think any less of her because she placed second choice. This young lady has consistently been amongst the top of her class for most of her training and was earmarked to be fast tracked through peacekeeper training. She has high leadership skills and an excellent mind for tactics. For this reason, Faustina Stryker has been chosen as the female tribute for this year."

"Thank you Jeana. Can we have a round of applause for Miss Faustina Stryker? Where are you Faustina?"

Again the camera panned in to the older girls, since an eighteen year old was to be expected this time, but in almost a complete rerun of the previous announcement, no one stepped forward. At last a small girl from the fifteen section stepped out into the aisle. "Um," she mumbled. "Uh, Faustina's not here. She's in hospital too. Someone chucked a brick at her head this morning."

"Ah," Belladonna said. It was a very telling sound.

"Stall for time," Fantasio hissed in her ear. Felicity forced a smile.

"Gloria, any insights as to what happens now?"

"I'm afraid not Felicity. I'm not sure whether they pick third choice tributes."

It turned out they did not, and the reaping balls that had merely been decoration for Two for many years had been removed decades ago. Belladonna whispered frantically with a dark haired woman off-stage, most likely trying to get the name of another candidate, since apparently they had had plenty.

"If they don't hurry this up we're going to have to skip to Three," Fantasio said. "Their reapings start in four minutes."

It seemed that Grayson and Jeana were also sick of waiting. They stepped back up to the mic. "Any volunteers?"

About five dozen girls screamed 'I volunteer' and rushed at the stage, trampling others underfoot. Jasper Darkstone, Grayson and Jeana's younger brother who was sat at the back of the stage with the other Victors, laid his head in his hands. This was why District Two did things the way they did. The brawl spread out across the square. The boys began trying to file out from the back and protect the smaller ones. There were girls on the ground, girls fighting, pulling each other's hair, screaming, fighting to get to the stage. One of the Peacekeepers fired his gun but it did little good. The girls at the back now seemed to just be fighting with each other rather than trying to reach the stage. A small figure at the front had managed to reach it and strained to pull herself up.

"I volunteer! I volunteer I volunteer!"

"Oh wonderful!" chirped Belladonna. "We have a volunteer! What's your name young lady?"

"Valkyrie Slate," replied the girl, who could barely be twelve if she was a day. "And don't you count me out just because I'm small!" She bared her teeth and hissed, grinning up at the cameras. Her appearance on stage seemed to have been missed by most of those in the square, who were still thrashing each other.

"We're cutting the feed. Fill the gap," said Fantasio. The screen cut to static.

"Well, I've never seen scenes like that from District Two since I've been announcer," Felicity started weakly. "I'll be expecting big things from these two this year. Wasn't Valkyrie clever climbing up onto the stage like that while everyone was distracted? What do you think Gloria?"

"Maximus is definitely the bigger threat this year," she said. "But I wouldn't disregard Valkyrie. She has guts, and she's certainly resourceful."

"She is that!"

Images of Maximus and Valkyrie joined those of Diamond and Lucian on the far left screen.

"We've got three strong careers and a wildcard so far folks! And from what I'm hearing, Maximus Darkstone is indeed the youngest son of our beloved Victors Claymore and Ampora Darkstone and the younger brother of Grayson, Jeana and Jasper Darkstone!"

We'll be expecting big things from that young man! It could be an exciting Games! We'll have to wait and see what District Four gives us! But of course, we've got District Three and another guest to introduce before then!"

Cheers ran through the hall.

"District Three's starting," said Fantasio. On screen District Three's square appeared, filled with anxious and frightened faces. Three was one of the less entertaining Districts, they always had poor tributes and rarely produced Victors. They got one a few years back, and before that their last Victor had been over four decades earlier. Laurentia Justice, their escort, was finishing up her speech on stage. She was new this year, barely turned twenty, but her reputation as a singer was already very well known.

"We'll start with the girls," she said, dipping a hand into the bowl and pulling out a slip from the top. "The female tribute this year is Data Huxley!"

The girls at the back of the square began to shuffle aside. From somewhere in the middle appeared the most pregnant pregnant young woman Felicity had seen in a long time. Murmurs ran through the crowd as her condition became more apparent. A Peacekeeper stepped forward to hold her elbow as she climbed the steps to the stage.

"Oh my. How far along are you?"

Data brushed a hand over her stomach. "Eight and a half months."

"Data Huxley everyone! Do we have any volunteers?"

Data stared out at the crowd with begging, pleading eyes, but no one stepped forward.

"Very well. And now for the boys."

Data closed her eyes, clearly holding back sobs. Laurentia selected a slip from the boys' bowl. "The male tribute this year is Gadge Bishop!"

Gadge came from amongst the twelve year old section, a thin boy with a mop of dark hair wearing a shirt too large for him.

"Do you have anything you want to say Gadge?"

He shook his head, instead holding his hand out for Data to shake.

"What do you think of that then Gloria?"

"I'm afraid I don't like their chances Felicity, but you never know. Data certainly has something to live for, and Gadge could prove to be a wildcard."

"We'll just have to wait and see!"

Data and Gadge's images moved to join the first four on the left hand screen. Felicity's eyes lingered on Data for perhaps a moment longer than they should.

"Before we continue with the District Four reapings, I'd like to introduce our next guest. All the way from District Four, it's Oceanous, Victor of the Ninety Sixth Hunger Games!"

That was not his real name she knew; it was a nickname given to him due to his parade costume, which had made him look like a sea god. Oceanous stepped onto the stage, a tall, greying man. His victory had been before her time, though it was still considered one of the most highly rated Games. Felicity offered him her hand as he reached her and Gloria.

"Oceanous, how wonderful it is to have you here in the Capitol once more!"

The man was bit of a recluse she had heard, and had barely returned to the Capitol after his five years of mentoring unless he had been brought in to act as mentor again. Sometimes Felicity regretted the ending of the Victor trade, his looks were wasted hiding away in District Four. He said nothing as he took his seat.

"Why don't you tell us a little bit about what you've been up to?"

He fixed her with a stern look. All of a sudden Felicity felt rather like a small child being scolded by her teacher.

"If you don't mind, I would rather not talk about my private life." His voice was a deep, gravelly rumble. Felicity smiled.

"Of course not, that's perfectly fine. So, how are you enjoying being here in the Capitol again?"

"I'd rather be at home."

There were whispers fluttering around the audience now. Felicity was painfully aware of them, and the disapproving looks flying about those watching. "Well, I suppose it's much quieter there than it is here!"

Oceanous only grunted, but the joke seemed to have lightened the atmosphere.

"So, why don't we see what's going on in your District?"

District Four always looked incredible, hot and sunny, with a clear blue sky. Their escort, Sagitarrius Nightscape, had dyed her hair deep green for this year, and wore a floating pale blue dress with tall glittering blue heels. She looked incredible. Felicity would have to find out who her stylist was.

"Did we enjoy that video boys and girls?" she shouted, which meant Four's video on the history of Panem, the Dark Days, and the ultimate destruction of District Thirteen during the year of the Eighty Third Games must have just finished.

"As always, it's good to be here District Four! May the odds be ever in your favour! But of course, you don't want to listen to me! Let's find out who your tributes are! Shall we start with the boys this year?" She sprang over to the boys' reaping ball and pulled out a slip. "Nemo Hudson! Come on up here Nemo!"

A boy stepped from the fourteens and made his way up to the stage. He was tall for his age and looked fairly fit, with little baby fat and a deep tan to his skin.

"Do we have any volunteers? Any volunteers for Nemo's spot?"

"I volunteer," came a shout from the back of the boys' section. The camera panned round to it to find the speaker. It didn't take long, as a tall, lean boy stepped out. He was pretty, with deep blue eyes and dark hair pulled back in a low ponytail, wearing a blue and white shirt with long white trousers, and had a lean, athletic frame, his shirt defining him in all the right places. Sagitarrius beamed.

"Come on up here young man!"

He strode up to the stage. Nemo greeted him with a smile and shook his hand, clasping his shoulder before heading down to the side.

"And what's your name?"

"Orion Achoda. And I'm here to win these Games."

"It is a pleasure to meet you Orion! Shall we see who your district partner will be?" She pranced over to the girls' bowl. Orion gazed out over the crowd and waved for the cameras, rocking his hips slightly as though dancing. A woman in the studio audience wolf whistled. Felicity fully agreed with the sentiment.

"The female for this year will be…" Sagitarrius unfolded the slip as she returned to the mic, narrowly avoiding tripping over her own feet in those heels of hers. She frowned slightly. "Astoria Achoda!"

Orion's eyes widened. His gaze flashed to the back of the girls' section. A dark haired girl stepped from there and Felicity's breath caught. She was jaw-droppingly stunning, with the same large, upturned deep blue eyes, full lips, and slender nose as Orion, wearing a blue and white knee length dress and low heels, her hair bound in a thick plait.

"Well, I'll be," twittered Sagitarrius. "I'll bet this is your sister."

"Yes," Orion ground out. Astoria gave him an anxious smile.

"Do we have any volunteers?" asked Sagitarrius. "Any volunteers for Astoria's spot?"

No one stepped forward. That was unusual for Four, who had slowly built up their reputation as a Career district and usually had volunteers.

"No one? Last chance now!"

The silence was deafening. Orion scowled and shouldered Sagittarius away from the mic. "Someone volunteer! Ronelle! Acionna!"

Astoria stepped up to take his arm. He shoved her behind him.

"Why is no one volunteering?"

It looked like Astoria murmured something the cameras didn't catch in his ear before she pulled him away from the mic. Sagittarius shot the two of them an anxious look and returned to her spot. "There we have it then ladies and gentlemen, your tributes for this year's Hunger Games: Orion and Astoria Achoda!"

Astoria wrapped her fingers around Orion's and lifted their joined hands in the air. The image faded into that of the District Four seal.

"Well well ladies and gentlemen, it looks like we've got siblings from Four! Oceanous, can you tell us anything about these two? Why were there no female volunteers from Four this year?"

"Maybe they just don't want to throw their lives away," he grunted. Felicia started. Someone could have warned her he was going to be like this! Maybe she ought to stick to yes/no questions from now on.

"Do you think Four's got a fighting chance this year then?"

"As much as anyone else."

"And what about them being siblings? Is that going to affect things do you think?"

"Depends on whether they let it."

Orion and Astoria's images appeared on the wall. Fantasio whispered information in her ear.

"Well, I'm being told this is only the third time we've seen sibling tributes in the Games. Can you believe it the first time was way back in the Second ever Games, when there were siblings reaped from District Five, and the second was during the Eighty fifth, when we saw a brother-sister team from District One! We'll be expecting big things from these two! For now though, we've moving onto District Five!"

Elsie Lovelace, the Ice Queen, was already on stage finishing her speech. Evidently they had missed Mayor Watt in all the talk about the twins from Four. Elsie wouldn't be pleased to hear it. She wasted no time in choosing a female tribute, Electra Balfos, who came from the fifteens and had orange hair. She kept her head down and her shoulders hunched. Elsie took a slip from the boys' bowl. "Isaac Watt!"

Mayor Watts paled. A scrawny, black haired boy came forward from the fourteen year old sector.

"Come along Isaac, we don't have all day," Elsie snapped. The boy stumbled onto the stage. Elsie pushed him over to Electra. "District Five, your tributes for this year, Electra Balfos and Isaac Watt!"

The image faded and their pictures took their places on the wall.

"Gloria, Oceanous, any thoughts on these two?"

"They might pull off a win," said Gloria, "but my hopes aren't high."

"Well, I am being told now that Isaac Watt is the son of the Mayor! It's been a while since we've seen someone of his standing in the Games, so we'll see how he does!"

Fortley Entersrew, the escort for Six, chose the male tribute first, a sixteen year old called Logan Ford. He had badly dyed green hair and wore a sharp black shirt and a white tie.

"Do you have anything you want to say Logan?" Fortley asked.

"You'll be sorry for this. My father is a very important man!"

From the girls came a seventeen year old girl with brown hair and tattoos up her arms called Kara Transson.

"Do you have anything you want to say Kara?"

"Go die."

"The girl looks tough," remarked Gloria. "But the boy not so much."

"What about you Oceanous?"

He shrugged, which, given the circumstances, Felicia thought might be the best she could ask for. She was supposed to have had Coralie Harren as her guest from Four, but at the last moment someone decided to have Coralie mentor and switched her out with Oceanous.

"Now, before we move onto District Seven, we have a short break! Please feel free to visit the toilets, refill your food and drink, and enjoy a performance from one of our most popular artists and we'll return to go to District Seven shortly!"

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Okay, so the reaping was originally meant to be all one chapter, but as it turns out, it was huge. So the bad news is I've broken it in half. The good news is since the second half is pretty much complete, it should be up in the next couple of days.

Random trivia: This was actually the first thing I wrote for this fic.

Big thank you to HogwartsDreamer for faving, following and reviewing and to The AmazingJAJ, HoppsHungerfan, and DaisyRain01 for reviewing!

Feel free to take guesses at what you think the stereotypes and clichï¿½s are based on what little we see of the tributes in the reapings!


	4. The Reaping Part Two

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

Felicity took a drink and Tallulah rushed out to fix her hair and makeup during the break. Oceanous left to go off somewhere.

"So what's his problem?" Felicity asked.

Gloria giggled. "Haven't you met him before?"

"No."

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't realise, I'd have warned you." She leant forward in her chair. Felicity leant forward to meet her, much to Tallulah's annoyance.

"I asked that same question the first time I met him," Gloria whispered. "Turns out he's just a jerk."

Felicity sat back in her chair. "That's it?"

Gloria laughed and laughed.

"No tragic background? No big family drama?"

Gloria shook her head. "From what I've heard he just prefers to be left alone. I don't think he likes people."

Gloria's prep team came out to fix her makeup after her laughter, and then Oceanous returned and took his chair. The lights dimmed.

"You're back on in three. Two. One," said Fantasio. The holoscreen dropped.

"Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the reapings for the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games! Now, before we can move on to District Seven, we have another guest! Please welcome to the stage Maple Brownwood!"

There was a bout of applause, though nowhere near the levels it would have been only two years ago. Maple was a recent Victor, having won the One Hundred and Thirty Second Games at seventeen. He stalked out onto the stage, clad in a black shirt that hugged his thick body and large arms.

"Maple, it's good to see you again!"

"And you Felicity," he mumbled.

"How have you been since we last spoke? I hear you've got a girlfriend now?"

"Yes. She's the best."

Appropriate 'aws' came from the audience.

"That's good to hear, and we at the Capitol wish you all the best, don't we?"

They screamed their response.

"Let's see who the tributes for this year are then, shall we?"

Behind them, the feed switched to a large hillside. District Seven lacked its own town square and preferred to have their reapings outside the district on a large field. Apparently it was consistently a nightmare for the camera crews, but the District insisted on it. Itis Waltz, their escort, selected the boy first this year. "Tupelo Barker!"

He came from the back of the eighteens, tall and muscular, with dark hair and deeply tanned skin, wearing a brown shirt and shoes. Itis shook his hand and then took a slip from the girls' bowl. "Elma Oakley!"

The girl stepped quavering from the twelve year old section. By the time she got onto the stage she was crying.

"Do we have any volunteers for Elma?"

Elma tried to wipe away her tears.

"I volunteer as tribute!" shouted someone from the back of the girls'. The camera panned round. The new girl came from the seventeens, was almost the same height as Tupelo, a little slimmer than him but looked just as strong, with startling scarlet red hair. She jogged to the stage.

"A volunteer, how exciting! What's you name young lady?"

"Willow Green," she replied. A peacekeeper led Elma from the stage.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Willow. And might I say you look stunning?"

Willow smiled. "Thank you." She took Tupelo's hand.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your tributes for the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games! Tupelo Barker and Willow Green!"

"Ooh, a volunteer from Seven. They're looking good this year!"

"They certainly are," replied Gloria. Felicia grinned.

"Feeling threatened?"

"Not at all."

"Well, I for one think we could be seeing big things from Seven this year. How about you Maple?"

He nodded. "We could do well here."

"Now, onto District Eight!" And talking of twins…

Junia Tyrell, the escort for Eight, was a slight young woman with powder blue hair and large violet eyes. She and her brother Julius, who escorted for District Nine, were like the polar opposites of Grayson and Jeana. Trying to interview them was an absolute nightmare, if only for the fact that they were all over the place. Point in hand, Junia attempted to select a slip for the female tribute and promptly knocked over the reaping bowl, sending the slips scattering everywhere.

"Aha!" Junia exclaimed, evidently having managed to pick a slip before she knocked over the bowl. "The female tribute for this year is... Tyla Calico!"

A brown haired girl in a flannel shirt and brown trousers appeared from amongst the seventeens, glaring at Junia with purple eyes as she climbed up to the stage. Junia grabbed her arm and shook it so enthusiastically Felicity was almost surprised she didn't dislocate her wrist. "It's so good to meet you Tyla! I'm sure you'll be incredible and we'll be great friends!"

The look Tyla gave her suggested otherwise but Junia appeared oblivious as she bounded over to the boys' bowl and plunged her hand in to grab a slip. The bowl wobbled dangerously. Lacey Cotton, one of Eight's few Victors, darted forward to grab it before it too could fall.

"Oh, thank you," beamed Junia. "That would have been embarrassing." She skipped back over to the mic. "Okay District Eight, your male tribute this year is Calico Weaver!"

The boy emerged from the fifteen sector and made his way over to the stage. He had boring brown hair and eyes and wore an outdated green velvet jacket with a bow tie and loose yellow trousers.

"That is a brave fashion choice," Felicity commented. A few audience members laughed.

By the time he got to the stage he was crying heavily. Junia grabbed his hand and shook it regardless. "It's good to meet you Calico! Cheer up, everyone's watching!"

The boy only cried more. Junia nudged him toward Tyla and the two shook hands as the picture faded out.

"Any opinions on these two then? Beyond Calico's obviously dreadful fashion sense."

"The girl could be a dark horse," murmured Gloria. "She wasn't showing anything on stage, but she had some muscle to her. The boy will probably go down in the bloodbath, fashion sense aside."

Oceanous grunted his agreement.

"His fashion sense has nothing to do with anything, and I cried at my reaping," said Maple. "I don't think tears rules you out from being a Victor."

Gloria raised her eyebrows. "You want a bet?"

"You're on."

"Please, please. There'll be time for that. And before we move on to District Nine, I'd like to introduce our final guest today: Lavender Miller, Victor of the One Hundred and Seventh Hunger Games!"

Lavender only attracted a brief splatter of applause. She had been a popular victor back in her day, but it had been twenty seven years since then. Her hair had gone grey already, there were deep wrinkles around her eyes, and she had already managed to stain the skirt of her green dress.

"Lavender, it's good to see you!"

"And you Felicity."

"Can you tell us anything about what to expect from District Nine this year?"

Lavender smiled. "Well, I'd like to think you're in for a surprise, but nothing's guaranteed yet."

District Nine's square appeared on screen. Julius Tyrell was dressed almost identically to his sister, with the exception that he had blue and black trousers on whereas Junia wore a skirt. He attempted to select a slip for the boy first, and, in almost an identical scene to Junia's, promptly knocked the bowl over as he drew his hand out. Sometimes Felicity wondered whether they did it deliberately or if they really were that clumsy.

"The male tribute for this year will be Bran Grayne!"

A boy appeared from the fourteens and stumbled up to the stage. Julius seized his hand and shook it up and down.

"It is good to meet you Bran!"

"I volunteer!"

A murmur went round the audience. Lavender smiled and Felicity wondered whether she'd known about this. From the eighteens section of the boys appeared a muscular, tanned boy with shaven brown hair wearing a smart green shirt. He strode up to the stage.

"And who might you be?" Julius asked.

"Silas Fields. I volunteer as tribute."

Bran's mouth opened and closed and he clutched at Silas's arm. He shoved him off. Julius took Silas's hand. "It's good to meet to Silas! I'm sure we'll get on wonderfully!" He bounded over to the girls' bowl and pulled a name out so violently the bowl shook, though it stayed balanced. "Okay District Nine, your female tribute for this year will be Maizie Miller!"

Someone in the crowd screamed. The girls in the sixteen section began to move, though none stepped forward. At last the Peacekeepers went in and dragged an olive skinned girl in a pale yellow dress onto the stage.

"I won't!" she shouted. "I won't go and you can't make me! I won't!"

Julius grabbed her hand and shook it. "Good to meet you Maizie! I'm sure we'll be friends!"

"Don't touch me! I won't go! Mother! Mother!"

The camera focused briefly on a woman crying at the side of the square and then returned to the stage.

"Any parting words to your District Maizie?" asked Julius.

"I won't leave. I won't!"

"Silas?"

"District Nine has been overlooked for too long, but not for any longer. I am going to prove that we are just as good as anyone else!"

"So tell us Lavender," Felicity said as the image faded, "did you know you were going to have a volunteer?"

"Not for certain," Lavender replied. "But I had heard the rumours. And our boy should be able to compete with your careers any day!"

"In your dreams!" snapped Gloria. The two glowered at each other.

"Moving onto District Ten!" Felicity shouted.

Zeus, the escort for Ten, spent a minute battling to get his microphone working and ultimately gave up. He seemed to have technical issues every year, regardless of where they sent him. Upon him escorting for Three six years back, the cameras suddenly went offline and the Capitol missed half the reaping. Since then he had been escorting for Ten.

"The tribute for the girls will be Sierra Prime!" he shouted. The girl came from the twelve year olds, a tiny little thing with a head of blonde curls in a baby pink dress. Felicity resisted the urge to squee. Someone in the District square screamed.

"No! You can't! She's just a baby!"

Sierra buried her face in her hands. A blonde woman fought against a pair of peacekeepers at the edge of the crowd. "My baby! Don't take her! Don't take my baby! Someone volunteer! Someone volunteer for her!"

No one did, and the peacekeepers dragged her away. Zeus selected a slip for the boys. "The tribute for the boys will be Colby Marshall!"

Booming laughter echoed around the suddenly silent District Ten square. The peacekeepers entered the eighteens section. It took seven of them to drag the huge, muscular giant of a boy built like the bulls they bred onto stage, where the first thing he did was punch Zeus in the face and then continue swinging, bellowing and laughing. The feed cut to the District Ten seal.

"How about that then folks? Looks like we've got a bit of a wild one for District Ten!"

Lavender shot Gloria a triumphant look. "He could give you precious Careers a run for your money."

"That brute? I doubt it," sneered Gloria.

"That brute is strong from actual work."

"Brute strength does not a Victor make. And look at him, he's clearly a psychopath!"

"This coming from you."

Felicity didn't suppose the Gamemakers would allow him to become Victor anyway. Not after that display.

"What about Sierra? Isn't she the most adorable little thing?" she asked. Gloria laughed.

"She's cute, but that doesn't her a Victor either."

"What about you Maple? Any opinions on either of them?"

"Colby is definitely going to be one to watch out for in the arena. Sierra's clearly much less dangerous, but I'd rather sponsor her."

"And what do you think Oceanous? Do you prefer Colby or Sierra?"

"Colby," he grunted. Felicity giggled.

"Shall we move on to District Eleven?"

Gloria gave her a winning smile. "Let's do that shall we?"

Giselle Risio, Eleven's escort, was wearing a spectactular green feathery dress this year, with a large green headdress behind her head. She selected a name from the girls' first. "The female tribute for this year's Hunger Games will be Zinnia Kane!"

Zinnia came from the seventeens, a tall, muscular looking girl with the black skin and hair of District Eleven.

"Is there anything you want to say Zinnia?" asked Giselle. Zinnia took the mic.

"I know Eleven hasn't had a Victor in a long time. I'm going to fight to change that."

From the boys came a small, skinny fourteen year old with a crutch called Oliver Farmer. He wore a shirt that hung almost to his knees and large black boots.

"Is there anything you want to say Oliver?" asked Giselle. He shook his head. No question where Eleven's sponsor money would be going this year. Their pictures took their places on the wall.

"What do you think to Zinnia and Oliver Maple?" Felicity asked.

"Zinnia's got some muscle behind her, she could go far. Oliver will probably be a cornucopia death."

"How about you Lavender?"

"I agree with that evaluation Felicity."

"Well, we'll have to wait and see won't we? Now, last but not least, it's District Twelve!"

Twelve's Escort, Vanity Radiance, who was wearing a long white dress, selected a girl first. "Rosemary Flint!"

The girl came from the twelves, blonde haired with big blue eyes, wearing a pink dress with a large white bow around the waist. She walked hesitantly towards the stage. A shout came from somewhere.

"No! Rosie!"

"Come on up here Rosemary. Don't be shy now. Up you come."

"That's my sister!" screamed the other girl. "Let me go! That's my sister! Rosie!"

The camera panned round to show a dark haired girl fighting the peacekeepers holding her arms as Rosemary climbed up to the stage. 'Aws' ran round the studio audience.

"I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!"

"Oh my! Up you come then!"

The peacekeepers marched her up to the stage. She hugged the younger girl and handed her off to another dark haired one.

"And what's your name then?" asked Vanity.

"Briar Flint," replied the girl.

"Ah, and I'll bet that was your sister, wasn't it Briar?"

"Yes."

"Is there anything you want to say?"

"No."

"Shall we chose the boy then?" She pulled a slip from the boys' bowl. "Ash Coleman!"

He came from the thirteen year old sector, a scrawny thing with black hair sticking out in all directions in a green shirt with sleeves that hung past his hands. He stood beside his District partner and stared at the stage.

"Is there anything you want to say Ash?"

He shook his head. They shook hands and the image faded to the District Twelve seal.

"So what are we thinking of these two?" Felicity asked.

"The girl might do well for Twelve this year," replied Gloria when no one else spoke.

"I like the boy," Maple said suddenly. "There's something about him."

"Well, we'll soon see which one of you bets right!"

The images slid back onto the mainscreen, each of them enlarging for a moment and then shrinking down.

"These are your tributes for the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games! May the odds be ever in their favour!"

 **Author's Notes**

And that's a wrap for the reapings! This 'half' is much shorter than the other half, but it made more sense to split it between Districts Six and Seven rather than somewhere around the end of District Four, which would have been the actual halfway point.

Any guesses on the tropes and clichés for these tributes based on the little we've got?

 **Full Tribute List:**

 **District One**

Male: Lucian Prince, 18

Female: Diamond Blush, 17

 **District Two:**

Male: Maximus Darkstone, 18

Female: Valkyrie Slate, 12

 **District Three**

Male: Gadge Bishop, 12

Female: Data Huxley, 18

 **District Four**

Male: Orion Achoda, 18

Female: Astoria Achoda, 18

 **District Five**

Male: Isaac Watt, 14

Female: Electra Balfos, 15

 **District Six**

Male: Logan Ford, 16

Female: Kara Transson, 17

 **District Seven**

Male: Tupelo Barker, 18

Female: Willow Green, 17

 **District Eight:**

Male: Calico Weaver, 15

Female: Tyla Calico, 17

 **District Nine**

Male: Silas Fields, 18

Female: Maizie Miller, 16

 **District Ten**

Male: Colby Marshall, 18

Female: Sierra Prime, 12

 **District Eleven**

Male: Oliver Farmer, 14

Female: Zinnia Kane, 17

 **District Twelve**

Male: Ash Coleman, 13,

Female: Briar Flint, 16

Sometime very soon, either tonight or tomorrow, I will also put the list on my profile along with the stereotypes, clichés and tropes that have been correctly guessed for each character.

Big thank you to TheAmazingJaJ and Dreamer for reviewing and to OfficialBengy for the follow!


	5. Farewell to Ye All

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games

* * *

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda**

They were escorted from the stage into the town hall. Astoria found herself surprised by just how much she was shaking. It was an honour to enter the Games of course, and a great privilege to volunteer, but not with Orion. Not with her brother.

The peacekeepers attempted to break them apart in the entrance hall.

"Can't we share a room?" Astoria asked, giving a winning smile. "He is my brother. Our family is going to want to see both of us."

"Whatever," muttered the one that seemed to be in charge.

The two of them were hurried into a large, plush room with a white tiled floor and decorated with paintings of the sea. Astoria sighed and leant back against the wall. "You made us look like fools out there."

Orion folded his arms across his chest. "I don't get what happened. Why did no one volunteer? What happened to Ronelle and Acionna? Ronnie's been on about volunteering for months!"

"Orion, Ronnie's pregnant."

"What?"

"Found out about three weeks ago. I don't know how you missed it brother-mine. She didn't want to risk the baby."

"And Acionna? She was top of the list!"

Astoria shrugged. "She's been having second thoughts for a while now. I guess she got cold feet."

"But there were other girls on that list! Why did none of them-"

Astoria rubbed her head. "Maria broke her wrist last week so she's waiting for next year. Sirina, Brooke, Kelly and Monique are down with that fever going round, and Marina looked so drunk when I saw her earlier she could barely stand."

"And no one from the younger years stepped forward? Absolutely none of the other girls decided to volunteer?"

"Apparently not."

The door opened and Halley entered, holding Zaniah and Ariel by the hand. "Lyra and the boys will come in afterwards. Are you two alright?"

"As well as we can be."

"What happened? Why did no one volunteer?"

"You just missed that conversation. The short of it is that most of the other girls were… incapacitated, and I was just the unlucky one that got her name picked."

It was a marvel it had never happened before really. Her name was in the bowl sixty five times by now. Halley pulled them both into a crushing hug. "Stick together. Take care of each other."

They looked at each other. "Always."

Lyra brought Sirius and Perseus in after Halley and the girls left. Sirius looked deathly white, but Perseus was bouncing.

"This is so cool! You'll be so cool together out there! Did you do it deliberately? Is that why no one volunteered?"

Lyra smacked him round the head. "This is so unfair. She should have picked another name. You shouldn't be going in together."

Their next visitors were Salvia and Coral, who were the closest thing Astoria really had to friends.

"We're going to miss you," Salvia said.

"Yeah," agreed Coral. "You two are our only real competition round here."

Assan Redwater, Orion's training partner came next, and he apologised for the fact his sister, Cordelia, hadn't taken Astoria's place. "I tried to get her to, but she's only fifteen, and I don't think she could really hear me shouting."

Their last two visitors came as a bit of a surprise. Lillian Brokwood, the Mayor's daughter, bustled in. She was in her thirties, but often hired them for parties and private entertainment. "Darlings! What am I going to do without you?"

"Salvia and Coral Birches are good," Astoria said dryly.

"You just have to make it back darlings! And just think, when you're Victors we'll get to see so much more of each other!"

Astoria wondered whether she could kill herself now.

Last up was a short girl with golden blonde hair. It actually took Astoria a minute to work out who she was. She latched herself to Orion, wailing. "Oh, I can't believe you're going!"

Orion scowled and peeled her off. Orca Sharp lived down the street from them. Astoria often caught her peering at Orion from behind bushes, trees, and other inconvenient places.

"I just wanted to come and wish you good luck. Make sure you win out there!"

"Er. Thanks."

Astoria all but shoved her out the door and at last they were alone again.

 **District Eleven Male, Oliver Farmer (14)**

If this had happened to him last year, he would have had all his family gathered round. His mother would have been here to hug him in her warm arms and tell him everything was going to be alright, his father would have been here to shout encouraging words and ruffle his hair, his sister would have been here to pretend she didn't care, his brother would have been here to hug his legs and beg him not to leave.

Maybe it would have been better if it had happened last year.

Then he would already be dead like them and they would all be together. Not to mention he wouldn't have this useless foot and would have had a fighting chance.

Maybe this was his punishment for stealing things for the orphanage.

He wasn't really expecting any visitors. There was no one to visit him. He was now just one more nameless orphan in the grand scheme of things.

It made him jump when the door opened. Sage slipped inside and stared up at him with big eyes. "Does this mean you're leaving?"

The little six year old had latched onto him in the past year. Her parents died only six months before him, in a similar accident, and in her little mind that bound them. He stole her a doll two months ago and she held it to her chest now.

"Yeah, this means I'm leaving," he replied.

"But you'll come back, right?"

"No Sage. Probably not. Look, are you meant to be here on your own?"

She gave him a dazzling grin. "I gave Ms Fowl the slip. Please don't leave Oliver."

"I have to."

She hugged his legs. Oliver sighed and lifted her onto his lap. So maybe life wasn't all that bad after all.

 **District Two Female, Valkyrie Slate (12)**

It was only when she and Maximus were being escorted toward the town hall when the crowd realised someone, aka her, had managed to get onto stage and claim the tribute spot. Rather than the usual cheering, they began throwing things. Something hard hit her neck and splattered down her back. Maximus pushed her in front of him, and towered over her, a human barricade and shield. Stones, shoes, bricks, bread, and other miscellaneous items rained down around them. At last they made it into the building and the peacekeepers pulled the doors closed behind them.

Valkyrie felt around her neck. Her hand came away sticky. "Is that egg? Who brings a raw egg with them to the reaping?"

Maximus shook his head. Behind them, Octavia Whip, the headmistress of the academy, rounded on Grayson and Jeana. "You two! What were you thinking? You started a riot!"

Valkyrie could hear things bouncing off the doors and walls of the town hall. Grayson and Jeana smiled.

"That's how they do it in other Districts."

"Or did you have a better idea?"

"Anything would have been better than that! And I would hardly call this a good result." She waved her hand at Valkyrie. "What did you say your name was?"

"Valkyrie Slate."

"And are you trained Valkyrie Slate?"

"Yes ma'am. Since I was four years old."

Octavia narrowed her eyes. "We'll see. Don't let us down Valkyrie Slate."

She was separated from Maximus and led through a small room in the hall. A wooden board had been nailed across the window. It was ten minutes before her parents were rushed into the room.

"Make it quick. We're behind schedule."

Her mother rushed over to hug her. "Baby! Are you alright?"

Valkyrie wriggled free. "I'm fine. Just a bit sticky."

"I'm so proud of you honey, but why did you do it?"

"I got the chance," Valkyrie replied. "And if I hadn't got on to the stage, I think I'd have been crushed. Besides, this way when I win I can use the money to help Atalanta."

Her father stared at the floor. "Baby, Atalanta took a bad turn this morning. She was out of bed for some reason and she fell and hit her head."

Valkyrie's smile faltered. "Tell her not to worry. I'll make sure she's taken care of."

 **District Ten Female, Sierra Prime (12)**

Every time Sierra blinked she saw that boy laying into the man with pink hair. Every time she breathed out she heard his voice squeaking her name.

How could her parents never tell her about this? When the teachers at school said the Capitol took one boy and one girl every year from every District, she didn't think they meant this! How could she not know?

Her mummy rushed into the room and dragged her into a hug. "Oh my poor little girl! How could they be so heartless?"

"How could you keep this from me?" Sierra sobbed. "Now I'm going away to d-d-die!"

"It was for the best!" her father told her. "You were a child, a baby! We were protecting you!"

"Well you're not protecting me now! That horrible boy is probably going to kill me and it's all your fault! I hate you!"

"Sweetie, you don't mean that. You have to understand, it was what we knew to be best. We thought you'd be happier if you didn't have to worry about this until you were older."

"I'm worrying about it now!"

"Sierra-"

"Get out! I hope I never see you again!"

A peacekeeper opened the door. "Time's up."

"We love you Sierra baby."

Sierra cried harder because they were gone. Angus came in alone after them. He had her raggedy teddy in his arms. "I ran home and brought you him. I thought you could take him as your token."

Sierra took teddy and hugged him tight.

"How you doing?" Angus asked.

"Did you know about this?"

"Yeah."

"Why did you never tell me?"

"Mum and dad… they thought it was for the best. I never agreed, but I didn't want to upset them. And you were so happy."

"I'm going to die Angus!"

"It wouldn't have made a difference if you'd known. Training for the Games is illegal, unless you're a Career and bend the rules."

"Am I a Career?"

"No! No, of course not. Careers are from Districts One, Two, and Four. They train for the Games and then hunt down the other tributes in the arena."

"So they're the ones who are going to kill me."

"Sierra. Listen to me. You're strong. I know you can do this. Prove mum and dad wrong. Come home."

"How?"

He couldn't answer.

 **District Five Male, Isaac Watt (14)**

His mum was beyond furious. "How dare they reap you? I've been a good Mayor haven't I? I've been a good Mayor! How could they do this?"

"Mum, you know they like to reap Mayor's kids every so often."

"Oh, so you're saying this is my fault?"

"No," Isaac mumbled, "not at all. I'm just saying it doesn't mean they think you're a bad Mayor. I think you're a great Mayor."

"Oh Isaac," she whispered, pulling him into her arms. "Tell me you'll fight. Tell me you'll come home."

"I'll fight," he replied. "I promise."

She nodded and closed her eyes. "I'll make sure you get plenty of sponsorship. I'll take it offï¿½ whatshername if I have to. All you have to do is try. Promise me you'll try."

"I promise I'll try mum."

"You need to learn everything you can in training, but focus on fighting. There's no point in surviving if another tribute's just going to cut your throat."

"I will. I promise."

"Find yourself a couple of good allies. You'd do well withï¿½ is it Lexia? District partners make good allies. Three, Seven and Nine are always good places to start as well. Just remember you can't trust them."

"I know mum."

"You've got a one in twenty four shot. Make it count."

After her came Anna, who had been his best friend for many years. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Are you alright?"

"I'm scared. There's no way I can do this. I can't kill people!"

"Not everyone won by killing. Keep your head down; lay traps. I know you can do this." She leant forward and pulled him into a kiss. "You can do this."

Isaac only wished he felt as confident as she looked.

 **District One Female, Diamond Blush (17)**

Tiara didn't come to say goodbye. Her parents did, along with their beloved Platinum.

"We're so proud of you," said her mother, though her face said otherwise. Her father nodded.

"You go get 'em girl."

"I'll be the second Victor in this family," Diamond said. "And I'll have done it all by myself."

"And when Platinum wins next year, all three of our children will be Victors."

Platinum blinked. "Wait, next year?"

"Of course, when you'll be sixteen. Then you'll be the youngest Victor we've had in in fifty years, and you'll have won in the descending ages."

"I'm not here to be a collectable for you! I'll be a Victor! I won't have to listen to you!"

"Of course not dear," replied her mother as she opened the door. "Good luck."

Platinum lingered after their parents had left. "Hey Diamond?"

"What?"

"Would you think any less of me if I told you I didn't want to volunteer? Like, at all?"

Diamond shrugged and pulled a nail file from her dress so she could work on her nails. They had to look perfect.

"I guess so. I mean, you would be the odd one out. The only Blush sibling not in the limelight."

"Yeah," he murmured. "I guess you're right."

Victoria and Gemma came in next.

"Girl I can't believe you actually did it!"

"I know, right? I'm going to be up there on the big screens!"

Everyone would be looking at her. Her, and not Tiara. Diamond Blush would be the name on everyone's lips. She would be beautiful, and perfect, and poor little Tiara would be no one.

Victoria hugged her. "I am so proud of you! I will so be giving you all my support and sponsorship."

Gemma hugged her too. "I'll be cheering too!"

"Of course you will."

"They're going to love you," Victoria said. "You show them what you can do."

Diamond smiled. She was better than her sister. When Tiara became Victor she moved the family into Victor's Village and played music and drank to distraction. When she came home Victor, she was going to live in her own mansion, with no one to tell her what to do, and no one to keep putting her down. When she was Victor, Tiara Blush would be old news, and everyone would be talking about her. She would be the golden girl and Tiara would be nothing.

Diamond straightened out her dress and repositioned her hair. Time to show Panem what she was made of.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Hi everyone! So here are our goodbyes, featuring some characters we've seen and introducing some we haven't!

Big thank you to The Amazing JAJ for your review, Tubelancia for the follow, FanFictionTribute for the author follow, and to HoppsHungerFan for your review and the follow!

As promised, the tribute list is now up on my profile, along with the tropes and stereotypes attached to characters that have already been correctly guessed. Remember though, some tributes have more than one cliché or trope attached, so even if one is already listed you can always add another if you see it! And even though I do have all the characters, if you do want to suggest any tropes, clichés or pet peeves for the tributes or story, feel free to keep suggesting them and I'll see if I can use them anywhere!

There is also now a poll up on my profile for your favourite tributes based on first impressions. This will all be relative because they're all stereotypical and we haven't seen them all yet, but it would be helpful to me in seeing which characters are liked better and deciding which ones should go further in the Games, so please do vote. Don't worry too much about wanting to wait and see more of them, this is only a quick one on first impressions and I will almost certainly run more polls.

The next chapter will be the train rides, and all Districts get a feature in that, so stay tuned!


	6. Train Rides

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Twelve**

Briar considered Ash a weakling who would only slow her down and probably die in the bloodbath. Little did she know that Ash considered her a complete idiot who volunteered for her death.

They would not be allying.

 **District One**

Lucian and Diamond had arrived on the train to find furniture upturned and smashed glass and food littering the floor. Two men were trying to clear it up as best as they could.

"Oh, er, perhaps not this carriage then," Tiberius stammered. "Further up, there's a quite nice sitting room if two want to get to know each other and watch the recaps."

"Sounds good," agreed Lucian. Diamond internally seethed and smiled and nodded.

"Sure does. Lead the way."

Tiberious stepped carefully over a heap of glass that might once have been a bowl. Somewhere in another compartment of the train Tiara's voice began screaming.

"I guess someone's not happy about you volunteering," Lucian remarked. Diamond laughed.

"She's just frightened that I'm going to take all the attention from her." She tossed her hair. "She should be."

There was a muffled crash from behind them. Tiberious picked up the pace into the next carriage, which contained a soft seated area and a large screen. "Here we are. Pick your spots. I'm sure Blaise and Tiara will be here soon. They will be your mentors this year. Given the circumstances, Diamond, perhaps Blaise should be your mentor."

"Whatever."

An avox came by to offer them drinks. Diamond took a thick, sugary pink one. Lucian shuddered to think how fattening it would be and asked for a glass of water.

They looked good on stage. Diamond took particular pleasure in how horrified Tiara looked behind her. Something must have gone wrong with the District Two reaping, because they only showed images of the tributes, a large, muscular boy, and a lithe little girl.

"I want the boy. Not so sure about the girl," Diamond said.

The tributes from District Four were twins, with the girl being reaped.

"They look strong," Lucian said.

There were only a few standouts after that. The Six girl, the pair from Seven, the girl from Eight, and the boys from Nine and Ten. The rest would be no problem.

"They're going to be our biggest competition," Diamond said. "The others will be easy to take out."

Lucian looked uncomfortable. He flashed her a smile. "Yeah. Sounds good."

"You okay?"

"Of course. Just thinking about how easy this is going to be." He glanced at the screen. "We should invite the Nine boy into the pack. To replace the girl from Two."

Diamond nodded slowly. "That sounds like a good idea. Nice one."

It was half an hour before Blaise came to meet them. "You two seem to be getting along."

"Like a house on fire. Where's Tiara?"

"She's taken an early night." He dragged a chair over. "Right then. Let's get down to business."

 **District Eleven**

Only once Oliver and Zinnia boarded the train did Oliver begin to cry. Zinnia glared at him, disgusted, and stalked over to join their mentors, Dawn Soya and Tomer Spud, who were both around their fifties. The two won close Games several decades back. District Eleven had had no victories since.

"Right. What do I need to know?" Zinnia asked.

"I will be your mentor. Tomer will be Oliver's."

"Do I have to? You know I hate the ones who cry. You're so much better with them." He gave her a big eyed gaze.

"Don't give me that look."

"Please?"

She folded her arms. "Don't do it."

He stuck his lower lip out. "Please Dee?"

"Don't look at me like that."

"Please please please?"

"Fine!" She kicked her chair back. "Fine. Zinnia, Tomer will be your mentor."

"Yes!"

"I will… deal with Oliver."

She took him through to another carriage and gave him a mug of hot chocolate.

"You don't have to coddle me. I know everyone's going to sponsor Zinnia."

"That just means you're going to have to work harder. The Gamemakers won't allow you to take your crutch into the arena, so I would advise practising walking without it."

"I need it."

"Then that's your problem, isn't it? Buck up lad, or you'll die before you even enter the arena."

Zinnia's strategy was easy, and her angle even easier. She discussed both with Tomer until supper, and then retired to bed. The room felt incredibly quiet without her sisters. Oliver sat up and watched as the train took him further and further from home.

 **District Two**

The riot had mostly been broken up by the time they were guided from the town hall and into the car to take them to the station.

"Valkyrie, Jeana will be your mentor," Belladonna said. "Maximus, Grayson will be yours."

"We'll start with Valkyrie," Grayson and Jeana said. Valkyrie frowned.

"Shouldn't I just be talking to Jeana?"

"Ah, no, they always mentor together," replied Belladonna.

"There's not going to be any problems, is there, with Maximus being your brother? In terms of favouritism or anything else?"

"No," replied Grayson.

"There won't be any problems," Jeana agreed.

Valkyrie followed them through to a small compartment with plush seating. They went through strategies and alliances, which of course were already pre-written for her, as well as an angle for the Capitol.

"Kid," said Grayson when she stood to leave and fetch Maximus. Jeana grinned and showed her teeth. It looked one hundred percent more feral than it had felt when Valkyrie did it for the cameras.

"Be fierce."

Maximus's angle and strategy had already been decided long before. He spoke a little to his siblings and then they ate tea with Valkyrie and Belladonna. He sat up with them but she retired to bed early and happy.

Look at her, District Two tribute, on her way to the Capitol, and all before her bedtime. Atalanta couldn't bring honour to their District, but Valkyrie could do it for them both.

 **District Ten**

Colby had been locked in his room. He roared and raged and smashed the furniture, swinging his fists into the bed, the mirror, the dresser, the wall. Sierra listened to him bellowing like the bulls on the ranch and was incredibly glad the door was locked. "You're not going to let him out are you?"

"Not until we get to the Capitol," replied the green haired man that had taken over as her escort after Colby beat Zeus into a bloody mess.

"He's a maniac," whispered Rusty Timmons, Colby's mentor. Sierra trembled in her seat. She did know Colby Marshall - or, at least, she knew his reputation. Her brother would tease her sometimes, telling her he would come and eat her up if she didn't behave. Gwen Greenfields, Sierra's own mentor, laid a hand on Rusty's arm.

"Don't worry about it Rusty. Why don't you help me with Sierra here?"

He looked her over. "She's cute. She should go with that."

"Absolutely. Now, what do you want to do in terms of allies or strategy?"

"I... don't know what those are," she admitted. Rusty smiled.

"That's the spirit. See Gwen, cute."

"I see. You'll definitely be going with that while you're in the Capitol. Once you're in the arena though, you'll need a better plan than just 'look cute' or you'll die on the first day. So. Allies, strategy?"

Sierra opened and closed her mouth. "I really don't know what those are."

Gwen sighed and stared at the ceiling. "Do you want to be alone in the arena or do you want to work with another tribute? I would recommend the latter."

"I'll do that then."

"Aye. And how are you going to survive once you're in there? What are you going to do?"

"Stick with my friends."

"Sierra, they won't be your friends. They'll be your allies, and they might stab you in the back at any time. You must never trust them and you certainly must never, ever, ever see them as your friends."

"Oh."

"And with all that out the way, I would like to recommend you laying low in the arena. Keep your head down, keep hiding, if you come near anyone, run."

"I can do that."

"Good. Do not enter the bloodbath, under any circumstances. I don't care how fast you think you can run or if you're sure you can just get that backpack, don't do it. Do not run for the cornucopia, do not pick a fight with another tribute, do not run for the oh so tempting supplies, do not pass go, do not do it!" She slammed her hands down on the table. "Are we clear?"

"Yes miss."

"Good. Any questions?"

"What's a cornucopia?"

 **District Three**

Data looked as though she was already dead. Gadge felt that way. Laurentia led them onto the train. The grey haired woman in the first carriage took one look at them and fled, shrieking 'nope nope nope' as she went. Gadge blinked. "Are we really that bad?"

The other woman in the carriage, who looked only a few years older than Data, looked them over. "Yep. You two are gonners."

 **District Nine**

Maizie had worked hard to pull herself together after the reaping. Her mother couldn't lose her too, not after Earp. What would she do without her? She had no one else. Maizie had to win and get home. By the time she and Silas boarded the train, she looked composed again.

Julius hurried around them. "Oh, you're so pretty." He glided his hands down her arms. "And you have such nice hair." He turned to Silas. "And you've got a nice strong build."

Silas smiled confidently. He had been training since he was eleven.

"I just know I'm going to beat Junia this year."

"I didn't volunteer to lose," replied Silas. His mentor, Barry Barley, met them at the entrance to a carriage furnished with fancy sofas and armchairs.

"This is it then. This is what you've been preparing for."

"I won't let you down."

Everyone would sponsor him. Maizie could see that. Any sponsorship from their District would go to him.

 **District Four**

Sagitarrius was much too happy about having twin tributes. Much, much too happy. Indeed, she refused to stop twittering on about it all the way from the town hall to the train station.

"There haven't been sibling tributes in forty nine years! You two are going to be so popular, I can just see it now! We'll have to get your faces and names in big lights! And you even have matching names, that's so cute!"

And so on, and so forth. She talked about it all the way to the train station and continued to chatter about it on the train, where she introduced them to their mentors, Coralie Harren and Dylan Rivers as this year's twin tributes.

As if they didn't already know.

"First things first," Coralie said. "Would you rather be mentored together or separately?"

"Together," they replied in unison. They did everything else together, their shadows when they danced were only one figure. They settled on a large, semi-circle sofa to talk.

"Let's get down to business then. I do remember your names both being on the lists for potential volunteers. I take it that means you're both trained?"

"Yes," they replied.

"Good. I assume you'll be allying?"

"Yes."

"Now, usually Four allies with One and Two. Are you happy with that?"

This time Orion said "no," while Astoria replied,

"I'd like to see the other tributes first."

They looked at each other.

"That's fair," Dylan said. "If the tributes from there are terrible, we don't want to be making an alliance."

"We'll talk more about that after the reaping recaps then."

The reaping recaps revealed that the other Career tributes, with the exception of the girl from Two, looked strong enough.

"We can't snub the Careers," Astoria said later, when they got a rare moment on their own. "It'll only put a target on our backs."

"This wasn't the plan."

"I know. But it's happening, so we've got to deal with it. Look, we ally with the Careers at least until the bloodbath's out of the way, maybe for the first couple of days, and then we can go our own way."

That night was the first time they were alone since the reaping. Astoria lay in bed and listened to the silence before sliding to her feet and opening the door. Orion's door opened a fraction of a second later.

"Can't sleep either?"

"No."

"What are we going to do?"

"There's been exceptions made in the past. Maybe they'll give us one." She was referring, of course, to the Seventy Fourth, Ninety Third and the One Hundred and Fifteenth Games, where more than one Victor was crowned. "Just think. Wouldn't they adore beautiful twin Victors?"

It was the only hope they had, the only hope they could cling to.

They wandered the length of the train, her in her nightgown, him in a knee length t-shirt and long shorts. The dining carriage, where they ate earlier, was empty now. Wordlessly, they shoved the table and chairs aside to clear a space in the centre of the cabin where they could dance to music only they could hear and forget about life if only for a short while.

Afterward, they lay together in Astoria's bed, the sheets twisted over their chests, and listened to the silence of the train together.

 **District Eight**

Calico had yet to stop crying. Tyla, however, was holding her composure better, feeling confident in her preparations. Meanwhile, Junia never stopped talking. Like, ever. She fussed and flounced around them, her skirt swishing about her legs, and chattered on and on inanely. "Oh, you're so pretty. And you have such nice hair."

Tyla lifted one hand to her brown hair.

"And you've got a nice strong build. I just know I'm going to beat Julius this year."

From what Calico had seen of her and Julius, they put on a different act every year. Last year they played opposites, with Julius as cold and haughty and Junia as soft and gentle; the year before that they based it around the sun and moon; and the year of his first reaping they went for the creepy twins angle, which had terrified twelve year old him. Looking back, he thought they weren't quite as bad as those Victors from Two.

"You're going to do so well, I just know it."

Apparently this year she was playing a hyperactive puppy. Just his luck.

They sat down to watch the reaping recaps with their mentors, Lacey and Twill, on a huge screen that took up half the wall of the carriage. Calico leant into the comfy cushions, but Tyla sat forward, back straight, hands on her lap, and waited to see who her competition was. As could likely be expected, it was the Careers, followed by the boys from Nine and Ten. Calico fled to his room, sobbing, about halfway through. Twill sighed and trailed after him with a half full bottle of whiskey in one hand.

"So what are your strengths?" asked Lacey.

"I'm strong. I can run, I throw a mean punch, and I've been practising knife and spear work in secret."

Lacey stared at her. Tyla swallowed. "Um. Is that good?"

Lacey smiled. "Oh my dear, I do wish we had more tributes like you. I think we just may be in with a shot this year."

 **District Five**

The first thing Isaac did upon boarding the train was ask Electra whether she wanted to ally. She smiled. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't want any allies."

"Oh."

"It's not you, it's me. Good luck with things."

She then retreated to her room. She might have lived in District Five since she was six, but she never imagined her name would come out of that reaping ball. Honestly she had always figured it wasn't even in there. The Victors and mentors for District Five were beyond useless, one being a doddering old man and the other an alcoholic. Electra knew she would find no help there. She sat and got to work.

Meanwhile, Isaac was trying to find help from the mentors. Ion Gepler was rattling on about some story someone told him earlier, while Vida Amit, the younger, was sprawled across three chairs, a bottle in both hands. She grabbed a third bottle from the chest at her side and cracked it open. "Here's some advice kid. Jump off your podium before the countdown ends; spare yourself the trouble."

"Give me some useful advice!" he shouted, but they didn't. How was he meant to survive for his mum with mentors like these?

Electra ate and watched the reaping recaps in her room. Shortly after, an avox came round with a large envelope sealed with the Capitol seal. Electra waited for him to leave and tore it open, pulling out a small communicator and a sheet of paper.

 **District Seven**

Hazel Arbur, the female mentor for their District, eyed the two of them up with approval. "Some nice ones we've got this year Itis. Reckon we might have another Victor. Let's see those muscles boy." She squeezed Tupelo's arm. "Oh yes, very nice. Lumberjack?"

"Yeah."

"And you?"

"Me too," said Willow.

"Nice. Well, where do you want to start?"

"I think we should watch the reaping recaps," Willow said. Itis nodded.

"Yes, yes, let's see what you're up against this year."

They settled around a large screen. Grover Birch, the male mentor, stared at it expectantly. "You have to watch out for the Careers the most. They're all psychopaths."

From One came a pair of beautiful blonde volunteers.

"They're going to be tough ones," Hazel said.

"And psychopaths," added Grover.

Two only showed pictures of the tributes for some reason, a typical Two career boy and a not-so-typical little girl.

"Chances are that boy's going to be your biggest competition, but if you can, take out the girl in the bloodbath."

Tupelo hated how she could say it so easily.

"She's only little, and it'll weaken the Careers, if only a bit."

"She's probably a psychopath," whispered Grover.

"Shut it or I will gag you."

"Psychopath," muttered Grover.

The pair from Four were twins. The boy from Five sobbed as he was dragged onto stage. The pair from Six both looked strong in different ways, the girl scowling and the boy swaggering about.

"Look at the way he stands. Clearly a psychopath." Grover was trembling. Hazel smacked him round the head.

"The one year we get two good tributes and I'm stuck with you."

Eight's escort smashed the girl's bowl and reaped a tall, strong looking girl and a boy who cried. Nine's escort got almost exactly the opposite. The boy from Ten attacked the escort.

"Psychopath," breathed Grover.

The girl was a little thing who reminded Willow of her little sister. Eleven's reaping was uneventful, and there was a volunteer from Twelve, a dark haired girl who took the place of her sister. Grover mumbled that she must be a psychopath, but Tupelo wondered whether he might have done the same for his younger brother. He'd like to think he would.

"Good news is, you're in a good position and pretty strong. Your odds are just above halfway. Bad news is, there are tributes stronger than you," said Hazel. "Do you want to be mentored together or separately?"

They glanced at each other, and then at Grover, who was Tupelo's official mentor.

"Do you mind?" Tupelo asked.

"Not at all, so long as you agree to ally with me," Willow replied.

"Together then."

They picked out a few potential allies, the girls from Eleven and Eight and the boy from Nine, and disagreed over the girl from Twelve as well as what to do during the bloodbath.

"We should enter and get supplies," was Willow's argument.

"What's the use in supplies if we're dead?" was Tupelo's counter.

That night they met in the end compartment of the train and sat opposite each other as the stars shone overhead.

"So why do it?" Tupelo asked.

Willow closed her eyes. "My father arranged a marriage for me with a man called Alder Collins."

"But he's a friend of my father's! He must be twice your age!"

"With a face like a pig and a beer belly, I know. I've been thinking about this as a way to get out, and then when I saw Elma… She could have a happy life, I'd only be having an unhappy one, so why not swap? And if I win, I won't marry him."

Tupelo laughed. "Can you promise me something?"

"Depends on what it is I guess."

"When the time comes for us to turn on each other, make it quick."

 **District Six**

Kara growled at the man who offered her a tray stacked with glasses filled with different filled liquids and knocked it from his hand. Liquid sloshed everywhere and the glass smashed around her. At least the devastation made her feel a little better.

Logan was still strutting about the carriage like he owned it. "I hope they make you pay for that."

Kara bared her teeth and snarled at him, grinding the glass beneath her heel.

"What? You need teaching your place woman?" Logan smirked. Kara screamed her frustration and punched him in the face, flooring him. Their escort rushed across the carriage. "Oh no no no no, this won't do!"

Kara gave Logan a hard kick.

"Miss Transson! This won't do at all!"

She shrieked at him and swept away to her compartment, slamming the door behind her.

Herman Honda, the District Six mentor, rolled over on the bench and let out a loud snort.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

And that's a wrap for the train rides, featuring a little bit more from all of our loved and hated tributes. Does anyone have any more guesses? Feel free to shout them out or message me if you want to talk!

Big thank you to Dreamer for your review!

If you haven't already, please do vote on the first impressions poll! Remember it is only for first impressions, if you change your mind there will be later polls. I'll probably close it at the end of this week and post the one for your least favourite tributes.


	7. Parade Prep

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games

* * *

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

Try as he might, Tupelo couldn't get much sleep that night. Sure, he had worked with an axe since he was twelve and his dad presented him with his first, laying it in his hands and saying "now you're a man," but he had never killed anyone with one! And he had never had any plans too.

He dressed in sharp black trousers and a green shirt for the approach to the Capitol. Willow wore a paler green dress. They stood side by side as the Capitol grew nearer.

"You ready for this?" he asked.

"No. Are you?"

"No."

The Capitol glittered and shone, a sea of lights. Tupelo stood at the window and waved stiffly. At his side Willow did the same.

"Can I put my arm round you?" he asked.

"Why?"

"Because they'll like it. And because it'll make me feel better."

"Go on then."

She was warm and firm, something real to hold onto. Her arm wound around his as she waved through the window at those they knew must be watching.

The train arrived all too fast at the station.

"Now, we'll meet you at the tribute centre," Hazel told them. "Just do as your stylists tell you, stick to your angles, and you'll be fine. They'll love you!"

Willow held his hand a little tighter. Tupelo gave hers a squeeze. "I'll be right here."

"Right we are," announced Itis. "Show time you two!"

The train doors whooshed open, revealing a long, silver corridor. At the other end Tupelo could see what looked like the tributes from Six. Willow held his hand as Itis hurried them along. At the end stood a jet black desk.

"District Seven, Tupelo Barker and Willow Green," Itis said. The woman behind the desk tapped something on her screen.

"Your stylists will be with you shortly."

Willow squeezed his hand again. Footsteps echoed up the corner behind them. Glancing over his shoulder, Tupelo could see it looked like the pair from Eight. There was a hum and doors opened up on either side of the corridor. Four people hurried out.

"You must be Tupelo?" asked a man with bright red hair.

"Yes."

"This way then."

He glanced at Willow. "See you on the other side."

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda (18)**

She and Orion woke to the dawn light, tangled together in her bedsheets. She showered first, like at home, and then he went in while she dressed and combed her hair. They arrived at the Capitol in a blur of lights and motion, her pressed back against Orion's chest in a show of unity because the Capitolites would love it.

"You two are so cute together!" Sagittarius squealed. Astoria could have clawed her eyes out, but instead she smiled and giggled and held Orion's hand because they needed her to like them.

The train opened straight into the prep centre. Their reflections followed them along the mirrored corridor, two at either side. If they could dance here no one would ever know which ones were the real ones.

Sagittarius announced them to the woman at the desk, and a pair of women appeared from doors either side of the corridor to sweep them away. She was led down a cream corridor to a door labelled with her district and name. Inside she was met by two more women.

The three of them spent three hours fussing over her, pushing her in and out of a bath and then a shower, washing her dark hair with about five different substances, and generally squeeing about her looks. Astoria was fairly accustomed to that. Apparently they barely needed touching.

At last they deemed her prepared and the one who had been painted purple for some unknown reason scurried off to fetch someone called Jynx.

Jynx, it turned out, was her stylist, a white haired, silver eyed woman wearing a bright blue catsuit. "It is good to meet you at last Astoria. Come with me; I will show you what you will be wearing."

Astoria followed her down the short corridor to another room with a raised stage in the centre.

"Now this," Jynx announced, indicating the outfit hung behind the stage. "This is what you will be wearing."

Astoria shrugged off the robe she had been given, letting it pool at her feet. "Where do you want me?"

Jynx helped her to dress in the costume. "What do you think?"

Astoria twisted and admired herself in front of the mirror. She looked wonderful, like a vision from a story, but it impeded her movement. "Could it be modified slightly?"

Jynx scowled. "I'll have you know my designs are perfect!"

"Oh, it is, it's beautiful, but I just wondered whether you could either take the skirt up or loosen it ever so slightly. It's for my angle."

"I know these things best!"

"I know. And I love it. But I would love it even more if the skirt was shorter."

Jynx narrowed her eyes. "Fine! I will… alter the skirt. Take it off."

It took her twenty minutes to fix the costume. When she was done it covered what need to be covered and little else. Astoria spun and twirled on the stage. "It's perfect."

"Good. Now take it off. We must make you perfect enough to wear it."

 **District Twelve Male, Ash Coleman (13)**

"You stink of soot and dirt," was the first thing the inexplicably yellow woman said to him after he entered the large room. "This won't do, it won't do at all. Take off these rags."

'Those rags' were the clothes were wore to the reaping, the clothes he felt comfortable in, the ones that kept him safe when he slipped through the trees.

"What?"

"These rags you call clothes. Take them off. Or do you require help in doing so?"

"N-no."

Slowly, he peeled the clothes off. Ms Yellow kicked them into a corner as though unwilling to touch them. "Through here, through here."

He followed her into a room with a bath set in the floor filled with purple liquid.

"In you get. All the way down to your shoulders. Don't you get out until I tell you."

Ash had outgrown the bath in his house when he was four. He had never been submerged in water since, only scrubbed with hot water until his skin was red raw. There was a seat in the bath for him to sit on and he perched there, only his face out of the water, for what felt like forever.

Finally Ms Yellow returned, ordering him out and pushing him under a stream of water that flowed from the ceiling, which she and the green haired man scrubbed his hair in. They then repeated that cycle six times, until she deemed him clean enough. He was scrubbed, prodded, and for some reason had all the hair shaven from his body, and that was all before they presented him to the man that was his stylist. The costume for this year wasn't actually too bad, albeit being something Ash had seen many District Twelve tributes wear before him. At last his stylist deemed him finished. Ash wasn't certain why they had insisted on scrubbing him clean only to them make him filthy again, but apparently it was all in the name of art.

The District Twelve chariot this year was some jet black material with flames painted around the wheels and up the sides. The horses too were black, with red ribbons in their manes. Ash sat on the edge of the chariot and kept his head down. The less the other tributes saw of him the better.

Other tributes filtered in while he sat there. The tributes from One were dressed suitably gaudily, and Ash watched the girl as she passed by. The Eight tributes looked categorically ridiculous, and Ash covered his mouth to hide a snigger. The boy from Ten was dragged out by a team of four peacekeepers via chains attached to a collar around his neck, while the poor kids from Five were dressed as lightbulbs for some reason.

"Hey, at least you're not wearing this!" shouted the girl from Eight, indicating herself. The Five boy cracked a smile.

Briar arrived arguing with her stylist, and she looked even worse than the pair from Eight. "You can't expect me to go out in front of the nation like this?"

"But of course! My dear, they will love you!"

"What is wrong with you?"

Much as he thought she was an idiot, Ash had to feel some pity for her. He might not look good or memorable, but that was all the better for him, and hey, at least he was wearing something.

 **District One Female, Diamond Blush (17)**

Diamond Blush was going to be the name on everyone's lips. She was going to be the most desired female in Panem. All eyes would be on her.

Her stylist, Leona, had painted her silver and strung her hair with diamonds. Diamond protested at the silver - she was the golden girl, not Tiara's shadow - but Leona explained silver went better with her natural hair colour. She wore what was essentially strategically placed diamond studded ribbon to cover her private places and nothing else.

The tributes already in the hall stared at her as she passed. She gave the Eleven boy a coy smile as she passed. He glanced away.

Lucian was already waiting by their golden chariot, lounging against it. He had been painted gold, her colour contrast, and wore nothing other than a loincloth, a pair of tall golden boots, and a crown of gold woven into his hair. "They feel you could wear any less?"

Diamond smiled. "Honey, this is what's going to earn me the sponsors."

They would love her. She would be the Capitol's golden girl. Everyone would look at her and pay attention to her. Tiara would be left in the dust once she got out there.

The boy from District Two entered, wearing bronze armour on his lower half and only a pair of leather straps that formed an X across his chest on his upper.

"Come on."

Lucian followed as she strutted over to the boy who would inevitably be one of their allies.

"District One, right?" he asked.

"Diamond," she replied, thrusting her hand out. "This is Lucian."

He took her hand with a firm grip.

"Maximus."

She fluttered her eyelashes in a flirtatious manner. "Well Maximus, it's nice to meet you."

"You look good," Lucian said.

"Will your partner be joining us?" Diamond asked.

He glanced around. "Valkyrie? Yeah, she's in."

Diamond pressed her lips together. "You sure you want her joining?"

"She's tougher than she looks."

"Fine," Diamond muttered.

"You reckon District Four'll be joining us?"

"The twins? Dunno." Diamond glanced about the hall, but there was no sign of the tributes from Four who had caused such a stir on the Capitol talk shows she saw on the train. "I mean, the girl was reaped. She might not even be a real Career."

The call went out for them to board their chariots.

"I guess we'll see you around Maximus," Diamond said with a smile.

"I guess we will."

She and Lucian returned to their own chariot and stepped on. Their stylists hurried over for last minute adjustments.

"Smile, wave, and show them what you've got," Leona said. "And have fun out there."

Everyone would be looking at her. Diamond couldn't wait.

And then the District Four tributes walked into the hall.

Diamond wished she'd had their stylist.

 **District Ten Female, Sierra Prime** **(12)**

They had physically chained Colby to the chariot with chains linked to a thick black collar around his neck. A large set of bull horns had been affixed to his head, and a loop attached to his nose. He wore nothing other than a set of ripped dark shorts. Still, he was roaring and bellowing, swinging his arms wildly.

Sierra herself was wearing a black and white patterned knee length skirt, a white shirt with yellow cuffs, heeled brown boots, and a wide brimmed red hat. Her stylist and prep team had talked about dying her hair red or giving her a wig, but in the end had declared her natural blonde curls 'too perfect to pass up,' and instead let her hair be.

"Here we are then," said her stylist as they arrived at the chariot. From what Sierra could gather, she was about to be paraded through the Capitol, an event that would be broadcast to all of Panem.

She trembled.

The doors at the front of the hall slid open. The chariot at the very front rolled out. Sierra's knees knocked. It was bad enough just to stand and address her class back home! If she ever found out whose bright idea this had been..! The second chariot rolled out.

All too soon it was their turn. Colby continued to roar.

"Up you go," chirped her stylist, boosting her onto the chariot beside him. He swung for her, bellowing. Sierra ducked and dodged, her ridiculous wide brimmed hat fluttering here and there as she did so.

Their chariot left the hall to be met by boos and jeers. Colby left off swinging at her and began to swear and curse at the crowd. Sierra clung to the side of the chariot and nervously waved out at the faceless people screaming and booing at them. Colby thundered something and kicked the chariot. Things began raining down around them. Sierra raised her arms to protect her head, only for Colby to punch her in the stomach. She fell backwards heavily, toppling out of the chariot with an undignified oomf. The crowd screamed. Sierra looked up to see the brown horses of District Eleven bearing down on her. She screamed and rolled aside. They thundered past terrifyingly close to her head. The boy looked down at her, surprise in his eyes, and then held out his hand. She blinked. He gestured at her. "Quickly!"

She rolled to her feet and jumped at his chariot. He and his District partner grabbed a hand each and pulled her on.

"You alright?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

There were some confused noises coming from the crowd now.

"Some maniac your district partner is," remarked the girl.

"Yeah," Sierra whispered. The Eleven girl took her hand, raising it into the air. The boy took her free one and did the same. Sierra grinned and held tight. The applause rang out around them. For one moment it felt like they were invincible.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

So this chapter is slightly delayed from the schedule I did have for various life related reasons, but never mind!

We're into the Capitol and training now, and really this is the point where it starts moving away from many of the characters solely being cardboard cutout stereotypes just because they're interacting and Things are Happening. There's one character in particular who moved a very long way from what they were meant to be. See if you can spot them!

Thank you to Dreamer and Tubelancia for your reviews.

I'm closing the First Impressions poll tomorrow, so if you want to vote, now is the time to do it!

Next chapter is the tribute parade itself, and should hopefully be up by Monday, fingers crossed!


	8. Tribute Parade

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

When Felicity was little, she sat glued to the screen in her home watching the tribute parade. It could hold her attention for hours: first the parade itself, which this year was starting at the prep centre, circling around the Lornell sector, and then travelling up the central promenade to the training centre. The route changed yearly and lasted five times as long as it had when the Games first started. Felicity had seen clips from the parades back then and they only lasted a few minutes, with the tributes simply being carted between the stands. That was no fun!

Now she got to watch proceedings from the viewpoint of a privileged few, sat on the high balcony and waiting to present when the chariots started.

"Felicity, District One is due out in sixty seconds," said the voice in her comm. She sat a little straighter, smoothed out her dress, though of course it would take a while before the tributes actually reached them. For now, they could see and watch the display on the big screens, or, in her case, on the holo-projector in front of her.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the moment we've all been waiting for!" she shouted. "The parade for the One Hundred and Thirty fourth Hunger Games!"

The crowd cheered approval.

"Thirty seconds."

The doors to the parade building slid open. Down below, the audience screamed. Felicity had never attended the parade as a simple citizen. She decided it would have to go on her list of things to do after her retirement.

"Green light."

The white horses of District One trotted out, followed by their chariot. Diamond had been painted silver, her platinum hair pinned up and glistening with the stones that were her namesake. She wore a diamond studded ribbon twisted around her body and over her ample chest.

"My word!" Felicity called. "Doesn't Diamond look just like a carbon copy of her sister Tiara? Let's hope she can pull off an identical victory!"

Her District partner meanwhile, had been painted gold and wore nothing other than a pair of short briefs and knee high boots. He stared numbly ahead.

"Lucian looks just like a golden idol – and he's behaving like one too!"

Neither of the District One tributes were going to be having any trouble getting sponsors this year.

"They both look gorgeous!"

"Felicity, District Two is rolling out."

Her gaze snapped back to the start of the route, where District Two's armoured chariot had already started out.

"Here's District Two now! And Valkyrie's dressed as her namesake!"

Unsurprisingly, the most eye catching part of Valkyrie's costume was the large silver wings pinned to her back. The rest of her costume consisted of a silver metal skirt, a chain mail vest, and a helmet with a blue and red plume. The wings were evidently jointed, as she flapped them and leant over the edge of the chariot to wave a short sword at the crowd.

"Doesn't she look cute? Meanwhile, Maximus looks like a capable warrior in that getup!"

He towered over his smaller District partner, wearing armour plate over his legs and heavy black boots, while his muscular, glistening chest was covered only by two leather straps. Blue and red warpaint had been splashed across his face.

"Here's District Three now!"

Data's stylist had clearly tried to work around her condition by letting her black dress out above her stomach, creating a flowing effect around her. Her District partner, Gadge, meanwhile, was dressed in a matching black bodysuit. Both had lines of neon blue light running across them.

"I'm not sure what they're meant to be ladies and gentlemen, but they sure look good! Data looks just gorgeous in that dress, and Gadge is a handsome little man in his matching costume!"

Gadge was doing his best to smile and wave at the crowd, but Data had her hands firmly rested on the front of the chariot and her eyes fixed on the horses. A few people threw baby shoes and onesies at her. Gadge batted what looked like a baby bottle away from her as it came dangerously close to her head.

"Isn't he just a little gentlemen?"

"Stand by for District Four," Fantasio said through her comm. Felicity smiled.

"Now here's one I know everyone is excited to see!"

The District Four chariot rolled out. Its horses this year were white, like those of District One, with blue and green streamers braided into their tails and manes and twisted around their harnesses. The chariot itself glistened a silvery bluish green like water. The tributes though…

The tributes looked ethereal.

They shone silver-blue, like liquid, their dark hair cascading down their back a contrast. Felicity was unable to even see what they were wearing, if indeed they were wearing anything, due to the sparkling ribbons fluttering around them, streams of them playing in the air. Orion and Astoria spun around each other, glittering in the light.

"Oh my gosh would you look at that?"

They were never still, dancing to music only the two of them could hear. Astoria pirouetted around Orion and he held her waist as she turned to face the crowd and rock her hips. They were met with screaming applause and a shower of flowers, of all of which went unacknowledged by them as they performed in their bubble, surrounded by the shimmering streamers.

"Don't they look magnificent folks?" She flicked through her lower screen. "Their stylists this year are Jynx Amora and Magnus Roman. I for one will be giving them my custom, they have done a breathtaking job!"

They certainly had. It was going to be a hard act for any of the other tributes to top. Felicity had to make herself stop watching their display and move on to District Five. She would have to watch the entire parade later.

District Five rode in on the wave of enthusiasm. Unfortunately, their stylists had decided to dress them as lightbulbs for some crazy reason.

"District Five have an illuminating display this year. It's true, without them we would lack the power to light our houses, and that's the message from their stylists this year."

Electra was hunched over, staring at the ground ahead. It was a shame, the girl was pretty. Isaac was trying his best, smiling and waving, but it was hard for the poor boy whilst being dressed as a lightbulb. Felicity decided to move on quickly.

The District Six chariot this year was a wooden cart, complete with large wooden wheels and wood rails around the edge.

"Isn't that clever folks? The District Six chariot is a cart! And our tributes are dressed as a driver and his passenger!"

Logan was decked out in a smart black jacket, neat trousers and a top hat, while Kara wore a long, old fashioned blue dress and a bonnet. It was, to be frank, one of the best designs for District Six Felicity had seen in years. A shame Kara had her arms folded across her chest, scowling at the crowd. It ruined the effect.

The District Seven chariot was wood, with green vines creeping across it. Tupelo was, predictably, dressed as a tree and Felicity groaned.

"What a surprise, another tree from District Seven. At least he's a somewhat good looking one."

That got her a little applause. Tupelo was a good looking boy, with fine, strong features and a muscular physique.

"And there is a bit of a change; his District partner is dressed as a very good looking lumberjack."

She was in fact wearing almost nothing at all: a pair of black, knee high lace up boots, a set of shorts that barely covered what they needed to, and a brown bra. Her long red hair was swept up and pinned to her head. An axe hung from one hand. She offered the audience nervous smiles, her cheeks scarlet red.

"Isn't she just gorgeous?"

The crowd screamed their agreements.

"Looking good District Seven!"

Behind them, however…

"Oh dear me. What were District Eight's stylists thinking? Tyla and Calico are dressed this year as piles of fabric. I'm not entirely sure where the fabric actually ends and the tributes begin."

Tyla was covered, head to toe, in pink, blue, purple, and yellow fabrics, heavier ones covering the bulk of her body while her arms had lighter sections attached. Calico wore an almost identical costume in red, green, orange, and white. Tyla was gazing ahead, while Calico waved nervously.

District Nine looked considerably better in matching long golden gowns and tall, heavy headdresses.

"District Nine are dressed as wheat this year, but they're gorgeous looking wheat, don't you think?"

A few flowers fluttered down around them. The male, Silas, was smiling and waving, flexing his muscles for the crowd. The female, Maizie, looked shakier and had her hands clenched into her skirt.

Dull booing accompanied the District Ten chariot. Many people had not forgotten the injuries the male tribute had given Zeus Marvel, who was still in hospital.

"What's this? Colby Marshall, who caused rather a stir at his reaping, is dressed as a bull! And his District partner looks just darling as a little cowgirl!"

Or she would, if not for the fact she had to keep dodging Colby's swinging arms and furious blows. Objects began to rain down on their chariot: sticks, stones, shoes, bananas.

"People, people, please don't attack the District Ten chariot. Poor little Sierra has enough on her hands with her District partner!"

The joke did not lighten the mood. Sierra lifted her arms to protect her head and a moment later Colby hit her in the stomach. She staggered, stumbled, and fell from the chariot. Stones, sticks, and what looked like half a brick flew around her. The District Eleven chariot thundered on as peacekeepers ran toward her. She scrambled backward and the Eleven chariot narrowly missed her. The boy, who Felicity recalled had been on crutches at his reaping, held one hand out to her. She stared for a moment and then flung herself at him. He caught her hand and pulled her on with the assistance of his District partner.

"Oh my, what a rescue there! It seems the District Eleven tributes are lending Sierra a helping hand!"

They were dressed as field workers, the girl, Zinnia, in a plaid dress with her hair braided and the boy, Oliver, in a matching shirt and brown trousers. Zinnia took Sierra's hand and lifted it high into the air. A moment later Oliver did the same on her other side. The crowd around them exploded with cheers. Sierra smiled brightly.

District Twelve paled in comparison. Ash wore a pair of heavy duty navy overalls and oversized black boots, with a pickaxe hung at his waist and a hard hat on his head. Briar on the other hand…

Felicity had to zoom in with the camera to work out what was going on with Briar. "Oh dear ladies and gentlemen! It doesn't look like our girl from District Twelve is enjoying the parade this year!"

She was huddled in the front of the chariot, her knees up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Her skin had been dusted black, and beyond that she was naked as the day she was born.

"It's a bit of a lacklustre attempt from Twelve this year I must say."

In front of them Zinnia plucked the red cowgirl hat from Sierra's head and plopped it down on Oliver before ruffling the younger girl's blonde curls.

"It looks like the Eleven pair and Sierra are bonding! Isn't that sweet?"

The crowd screamed their appreciation. A few flowers fluttered toward the Eleven chariot. Ahead, Colby stuck his middle finger up at the camera and roared obscenities at those watching. The girl from Nine was beginning to look unnerved by his behaviour and Silas had pushed her in front of him. Calico was now clutching the side of his chariot and only occasionally giving a slight wave. The Seven tributes were waving more confidently now and had their hands interlocked. Kara looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her whole. In the Five chariot Isaac had given up on waving and was watching the display from District Four. The twins were still dancing with as much energy as they had at the start, living in their own bubble of light. Felicity knew who she would be sponsoring this year. The District Three tributes were nervously waving and basking in the light. Ahead of them, Maximus was showing off for the crowd while Valkyrie bared her teeth and snarled, standing on her toes in an attempt to make herself look bigger. Diamond from District One was flaunting herself, smiling and showing off for the crowd. Any other parade and she would have been the centre of attention, but this year everyone was looking at District Four.

All the same District One was met with rambunctious applause as they entered the central promenade. District Two was always a crowd favourite and got their usual support, but once again it was Districts Four and Eleven everyone howled for. The chariots arrived in front of the Presidential manor, where the madam President, a terrifying figure even to those in the Capitol, greeted them with her usual speech. Felicity wondered whether her attention fixed on one tribute in particular, but she couldn't be sure. At last the chariots rolled off to the training centre, where they would remain for the next four days.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

There we go with the chariot rides! Any thoughts? Which costumes did you like? Which ones did you hate? Any guesses on what's to come?

Big Thank you to Hopps and Dreamer for your reviews!

The First Impressions poll has now closed, but I've opened a new one for your least favourite tribute, so please do drop a vote there.


	9. First Night in the Capitol

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone (18)**

Maximus felt loved.

He felt admired.

He felt _powerful._

He also felt pretty sure Valkyrie might just have completed her transformation into a wild animal if she had been out there much longer.

She jumped down from the chariot, knocking one of her wings off the side and bouncing with excitement. "That was too much fun! Did you see them out there? They loved us!"

Maximus got the feeling only the fact District Two was always a favourite had got them that love this year, but he decided to say nothing to Valkyrie. The pair from One stalked over. Diamond looked down her nose at Valkyrie. "This is your District partner?"

He laid a hand on Valkyrie's shoulder. While he would rather have been here with Anastasia, or even Faustina, the kid made herself difficult to dislike.

"Yeah. This is Valkyrie. Valkyrie, this is District One, Diamond and, uh, Lucius."

"Lucian," said the boy.

"Whatever."

"Hi!" chirped Valkyrie. Lucian rolled his eyes.

"You could at least remember my name good looking."

"So you want to join the Careers do you kid?" asked Diamond.

"I am a Career!" Valkyrie snapped.

"We'll see how you do in training. I'm not carrying any dead weight in this alliance."

Maximus frowned. "Excuse me? Who do you think is leading this pack?"

Diamond flicked her long hair. "Me, obviously." Her gaze turned to something behind him. Maximus turned to find the District Four twins approaching. Diamond stepped past him at the same time as Valkyrie decided to move, resulting in one of her wings hitting Diamond in the chest. She shoved Valkyrie away. "Watch where you're going!"

Valkyrie stumbled and glowered at her.

"Are you in or out Four?" Diamond asked. The girl, who was wearing little more than Diamond herself, looked her over.

"Are you as dysfunctional as you look?"

"I am not dysfunctional!"

Maximus pushed her aside and moved towards the Four tributes. They looked lithe and strong and bore a strong resemblance to each other. Valkyrie bounded after him. Diamond made an indignant noise.

"Ignore her."

Valkyrie rushed over to the girl. "Oh my gosh you look amazing I mean I love my costume and my wings but you look so awesome!"

The girl smiled. "Thank you. I like your wings too."

"They're cool right?" Valkyrie spun round. Diamond attempted to shove her away in order to get in front of the Four tributes. Valkyrie's wing caught on the glittering ribbon wrapped around Diamond and tore it away. She wasn't wearing anything underneath. Diamond shrieked and wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to maintain her dignity. Valkyrie froze.

"You little bitch!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

The Four girl laughed. "Don't worry One. I've seen worse than those. See you in training."

Diamond's cheeks turned scarlet. The pair from Four headed away after their escort. Diamond rounded on Valkyrie. "You-"

"It was an accident!"

Diamond smacked her so hard Valkyrie flew back and hit the floor. Maximus balled his hands into fists and punched her right in her smug, beautiful face.

 **District Ten Female, Sierra Prime (12)**

She had to pat herself down to check she was still alive. Her ears were ringing and her breathing ragged.

A horde of Capitolites and peacekeepers rushed into the hall. Sierra hopped down from the chariot and promptly tripped over her own feet. The District Eleven girl caught her collar and pulled her back upright. "You alright kid?"

Sierra opened and closed her mouth, trying to find the words. That had been amazing and terrifying all at once, and the thought that both it and her fall from the chariot had been broadcast live to the nation horrified her. Tears stung her eyes. Her lower lip trembled.

A woman with a pile of pink fluff and feathers on top of her head rushed over to her. "Sierra, love! Are you okay?"

Sierra reeled away from her high pitched squealing and hid behind the District Eleven girl.

"Don't you worry, the peacekeepers are going to keep that brute well secured."

"Yeah, until the Games start," grunted the Eleven girl. "Then he gets to kill the lot of us."

Sierra's tears spilt.

"Oh, now look what you've done!" squeaked the Capitolite.

"I j-j-just want t-t-t-to g-g-go home!" Sierra wailed. The District Eleven girl rolled her eyes.

"We'll all be going home kid, just most of us'll be in a coffin." She glared at the Capitol woman. "Who are you anyway?"

"Hilaria Fontane. I'll be escorting for District Ten from here on out."

"Ah, of course. Because that maniac gave poor ole Zeusy the smackdown."

Another woman, this one older and dressed in a skintight red leotard with a fluffy red feather boa wrapped around her neck, flounced over. "Now Zinnia, don't be rude. Hilaria, good to see you!"

Further up the hall from them a fight seemed to have broken out between the pretty silver girl and the muscular boy from District Two. Feather Boa clicked her tongue. "What is going on over there?"

The silver girl, who no longer appeared to be wearing anything at all, clawed at the boy's face. He kneed her between the legs. Several peacekeepers appeared to rip them apart. The District Eleven boy gave Sierra a nudge. "Hey. What's your name?"

"Sierra," she whispered.

"I'm Oliver."

She smiled through her tears. "Nice to meet you Oliver."

A group of peacekeepers had unchained Colby from the chariot and were leading him away. One of them gave him a hard blow to the legs with his baton. Sierra found it hard to care.

"Honestly, look at the state of you! You're scratched all over!" fussed Crazy Hair.

Sierra touched her arms self-consciously. Long scratches ran up and down them.

"Come along, come along, let's get you off to the apartment and cleaned up."

Sierra nodded and allowed herself to be steered away across the massive hall, sparing one last glance over her shoulder at the pair from District Eleven. Oliver caught her gaze and gave her a slight smile. Sierra smiled back. It felt good to have friends.

 **District Nine Male, Silas Fields (18)**

Their costumes hadn't been the best, but they certainly hadn't been the worst, and it felt like he'd managed to get a decent reception. He was the first, after all, they were hardly going to react to him with undying adoration. Especially not with tributes like the twins from Four around and Maizie smearing his image. At least she seemed to have held herself together for the parade, even if she was shaking like a leaf now.

Julius led them over to the lifts, where they were met by a slender woman with powder blue hair rushed over to him. Silas vaguely recognised her as Julius's sister.

"Julius! Are these your tributes?"

"Yes!" He slung his arms around them. "I'll beat you this year, just see if I don't."

She stuck her tongue out and hurried away, only to return dragging the tributes from Eight in their awful costumes behind her. "These are mine, and they'll beat yours any day!"

"I have a volunteer!" Julius pushed Silas forward.

"Yeah, well, I have Tyla!" She pushed the girl, who was strong looking with chestnut brown hair and deep purple eyes, forward. "I'm so going to beat you this year."

"Are not."

"Am too."

"Are not."

The doors to the lift slid open. The four of them were hurried into it. Silas edged over to the Eight girl. "So you're Tyla?"

"Yeah."

"Silas." He offered his hand. She took it.

"Nice to meet you I'm sure."

The lift stopped and the doors slid open to a corridor with a large pink 8 glowing on the floor.

"This is us!" Julius's sister announced and all but fell out the doors.

"I bet we'll beat you with the scores!" Julius replied.

"You're on!"

The doors slid closed and the lift continued up a floor.

"Now you'll have to do extra well in your private sessions," Julius said. "I've just got to beat Junia this year."

Junia. So that was her name.

Silas smiled. "Don't worry. I didn't come here to lose."

 **District Five Female, Electra Balfos (15)**

Lightbulbs. Really. Whose bright idea was that? Not only had they not made an impression, people would see them as a joke.

"Not the best output from Helia and Attikus this year," Elsa, their escort, said as they rode up in the lift. Electra frowned.

"We look like a laughing stock."

"I'll have words with them."

Electra thought it was a bit late for that.

The doors slid open to reveal a hall with a large pale green 5 on the floor. It led through to a large, lavish apartment furnished with more fancy sofas and vases than Electra would know what to do with. Vida was laid out on one of the sofas with a bottle in hand. "Lookin good lightbulbs."

Electra sighed. "Just tell me where to go to get out of this ridiculous thing."

She was directed through to a large dressing room on the right, where her stylist, Attikus, met her.

"You looked positively vibrant out there my dear."

"I looked like a fool."

"Not at all, not at all. People will love how relevant it was. Everyone will be talking about it in a few weeks."

"Can you at least make me stand out for my interview?"

"Of course you will!"

Electra did not feel reassured. Her communicator had been taken away at the prep centre, so she was now officially on her own. While Vida and Ion were worse than useless as mentors, Elsie, the Ice Queen, was strict and efficient as an escort. Electra pulled her aside. "Can you help me?"

"With what?"

"Advice. Let's face it, anything's better than those two." She waved a hand at her so-called mentors, now passed out on the luxurious sofas. Elsie smiled.

"You know kid, I like you. You're the first tribute I've had in ten years to think of asking me for help." She led her across the room to a small alcove containing a table and oversized cushions. "Let's get started d see if we can get this District a more worthy Victor shall we?"

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda (18)**

They finally escaped from Sagitarrius's gushing about how amazing they were into the bathroom attached to her bedroom. It was bigger than their bedroom three times over back home, with a bathtub the size of a paddling pool and a huge walk in shower. As they did occasionally at home, Orion sat with his eyes closed and back to the shower as she undressed and studied the controls.

"We made an impression," he said. She clicked one of the buttons, which produced a thick creamy foam from the ceiling.

"Yeah."

They must have had thousands, if not millions, of people watching them dance. Astoria never imagined so many people would see her perform, and certainly not like that. She turned the foam off and found another button that provided a sweet smelling turquoise gel. "You want to get in?"

Orion glanced at her and quickly closed his eyes. "You're not wearing anything!"

"Well no brother-mine, I am in the shower." She switched off the gel and tried again. Pink goo gushed from nozzles in the corner. Astoria jumped. "Oh for crying out loud. One of these buttons must give water. You want to get in?"

"With you?"

She tried another button. Orange froth shot from sprays set in the sides of the shower.

"That was the general idea. Would it make you feel better if I wore my underwear?"

"Yes!"

"Prude." She turned off the orange froth and pulled her bra and knickers back on. Orion pushed himself to his feet and hung his robe next to hers before peeling the thin clothes he had changed into from his costume off. Yet another button gave a warm, flowery scented yellow liquid. Astoria was beginning to think trying the bath might be easier than working this damned shower. Orion stepped in next to her, his bare skin shining silver blue like hers.

"You got any ideas on which button is for water?" Astoria asked.

"Nope. Let's try this one."

"No, that one's-"

He pressed the same button she tried first, turning the foam back on. Astoria switched it off. "Foam."

"This seems… unnecessarily complicated."

"Yes. Yes, it does."

They stood for a moment and studied the buttons. Orion tried another and only succeeded in spraying them with what might have been liquid red soap. Astoria tried yet another handle and blasted them both with warm air. Orion tried a third, which filled the shower block with silvery bubbles.

"Well this just seems inconvenient," Astoria said. Orion stared at the bubbles and then stepped back.

"Hang on." He stepped out.

"Well where are you-"

"No, wait on."

Warm water poured from the ceiling and jetted from the sides. Astoria yelped. "Yep, that's done it!"

Orion stepped back inside. "The controls are on the outside. I remembered because I was sat under them earlier."

"Huh."

The paint ran from their skin in thick rivers, turning the floor silvery blue. Astoria closed her eyes and stood under the stream. When she dreamt of entering the Hunger Games, this was not what she envisioned. Sure, she could win, and live, but what would her victory and life be worth if it was at the cost of losing Orion forever?

"I wish I'd never volunteered," Orion said. "We were happy, weren't we? Doing what we did, dancing?"

Astoria bit her lip. "Yeah."

"And we could earn so much more as adults. We'd have had the money."

When the last of the paint was gone from their skin Astoria switched on the flowery yellow liquid, because it was quite nice, and Orion turned the bubbles back on, because they were quite pretty, and the two of them sat at the base of the shower as the water crashed over them.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

This is probably one of my favourite chapters overall, along with the Parade Prep one, so do feel free to review and tell me what you think!

Big thank you to Hopps for your review and to those who have voted on the poll.

The next chapter will be the start of training.


	10. Training Day One Part One

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Eleven Female, Zinnia Kane (17)**

She told herself she should take her rest while she could but she still didn't sleep well that night. The room was too cold, and then when she messed with the temperature controls it was too hot, but the wrong kind of hot. The bed was too soft and every slight noise disturbed her, as well as it being much too quiet.

For breakfast she had bread and fruit for breakfast and watched a commentary on TV featuring the parade, in particular herself, Oliver, and the District Ten girl who the announcer had identified as Sierra. It felt incredibly strange to watch them discussing her own chances. Afterwards the announcer moved on to talking about the pregnant girl from Three and how shocking it was she was reaped in her condition.

Once both she and Oliver were finished and dressed in training clothes Giselle led them down to the training hall, which consisted of two floors of stations. She and Oliver were amongst the first to arrive.

"If Sierra's willing, do you want to ally with us?" Oliver asked. Zinnia scowled.

"Why would I want to?"

"You saw the programme this morning, they're expecting it. They loved us out there."

She sighed heavily. "I won't say no yet."

Sierra arrived at the same time as most of the other tributes and hurried over to join them. Her District partner was accompanied by a team of three peacekeepers.

"Isn't this exciting? Everything looks so interesting! I want to try it all!" Sierra babbled.

"Sure," Zinnia muttered.

The head trainer was a dark skinned woman with bright pink eyes called Calista, who made a head count and then addressed them. "Listen up the lot of you! While you are in these training facilities there will be absolutely no physical altercations between tributes under any circumstances." Her gaze stopped on the girl from One and boy from Two. "The layout of the training centre is very simple. You will find that the first floor is mostly for activities such as swimming, climbing, running, and learning combat skills. The second floor contains all the survival stations. The following stations are compulsory and all tributes must try them at least once: foraging, swimming, climbing, survival in the heat and cold, and the two balance activities. Failure to attend any of the stations will count against you in your training score. Now, the training centre is open twenty four hours. You can spend as much or as little time there as you want. Just remember to eat and sleep as well. If you have any questions feel free to approach any of the trainers in the hall. Feel free to go and get started at your desired stations!"

"What do you think we should start with?" Sierra asked. Oliver glanced around the hall.

"Let's start upstairs with the survival stuff. You want to come Zinnia?"

"No. I think I'll have a look down here first."

"See you later then."

She started off at the knife work station. As a child she had worked with small blunt knives to cut ripe fruit down from the trees, but those were no use as weapons and had been constantly monitored by peacekeepers and foremen to make sure none went missing. These ones were deadly sharp, designed for cutting through skin and muscle. In three days' time she was going to be using weapons like these to kill people.

The Capitol trainer at the station showed her how to handle the knife and how to use it against a dummy, slashing through its foam throat with ease and striking points he explained would disable a person.

The District Three boy joined her at the station after a short while. He was so little. His District partner was the pregnant one she remembered. This wasn't right, none of this was right!

"Those are the basics to it," said the trainer. "You can spar with one of my helpers here, or have a go in the simulator if you like."

Zinnia chose the simulator, which provided a glowing red opponent that stabbed and hit at her with a pretend knife. How could Oliver ever manage to do something like this with his bad foot she wondered? He could barely walk without his crutch, though he was improving. She hadn't seen him with it since they boarded the train. She didn't want to say it to him, but his reasoning for allying with him and Sierra made sense. The Capitol loved their show on the chariots, and allying together could bring in a lot more sponsorship, but only if they could escape the bloodbath. Again Zinnia wondered how Oliver was meant to do that with his bad foot. If she was going to ally with them, she would have to bring others into the alliance, stronger tributes – or perhaps other underdogs. The audience would love that.

 **District One Male, Lucian Prince (18)**

They were amongst the last to make it to the training hall due to Diamond fussing and insisting on applying cover up to the injuries from the fight with Maximus. A Capitol medic treated her the night before and declared she would be 'fit and stunning' for the interviews, but for now her black eye and split lip remained, even if they were more healed than normal.

Tiberious told them they absolutely must make good with the District Two tributes since they were to be their allies. Lucian wondered what was stopping them from making other, less murdery allies.

"Well, nothing really. But the Career pack does pull in more sponsorship and is the strongest alliance in the arena," was Tiberious's reply. "And do you really want them as enemies?"

Lucian thought of Diamond, beautiful and deadly, strong, muscular Maximus who had to be twice as big as him, little lithe Valkyrie who had somehow volunteered at twelve, and the drop dead gorgeous twins from Four who got all the attention at the parade. Lucian knew he looked good, like always, but they looked fantastic.

They gathered by the sword fighting station. The pair from Two hadn't bothered covering up their own injuries. Valkyrie's face had bruised and swollen slightly, while Maximus had several long scratches down his face and neck and a split lip. The girl from Four, Astoria Lucian thought her name was, raised her eyebrows. "Looks like we left yesterday and missed all the fun."

Diamond glared at her and turned to Maximus. "I'm… sorry. For last night."

"Fine. So we're doing this like normal?"

"Looks that way."

The two of them glared at each other. Maximus turned away and picked up the biggest of the big broadswords. Diamond narrowed her eyes.

"Aren't you going to apologise?"

"I've got nothing to apologise for."

"Now see here-"

The trainer at the station came over to them. "Do you need any help?"

Diamond scowled at him. "No, we're fine."

"Feel free to approach me if you need any help. Or you could try out the simulator just here."

"Yeah. Thanks."

Lucian glanced across the hall. "I'm going to try out the climbing."

"I'll come," said Valkyrie.

Most of the tributes from other Districts had gone up to the second floor, giving them the first mostly to themselves. Valkyrie was a quick climber, her smaller frame giving her the advantage as they raced up the wall. They sat and rested at the top.

"I'm sorry about Diamond smacking you."

"I did rip her costume off."

She was no older than his own youngest sister. He could picture Sapphire here in her place.

"Why'd you volunteer so young?"

"Someone had to do something. And my family could use the money."

In three days' time, this was going to be his biggest competition. A twelve year old, a reaped girl and her brother, a musclehead, and a Victor's sister with a grudge. For the first time since he volunteered, Lucian felt like he might just be in with a chance.

 **District Seven Female, Willow Green (17)**

She and Tupelo started at the survival in the cold station. They had decided to attend all the compulsory stations together and then split off to the ones they wanted individually. Being District partners and since they got on reasonably well and didn't want to kill each other, it made sense to ally. It didn't hurt that he was pretty good looking either.

The cold survival station was in a small room on the second floor. It was freezing in there and filled with what looked like actual snow. The Capitol trainer sat them down and began talking, explaining how to keep warm, find shelter, and get food and water.

"The important thing is to never eat or drink ice or cold water, or anything too hot, because your body will have to use energy up processing it," he told them. That made some sort of sense, and Willow filed it away as they tried to dig a hole in the snow to keep warm in.

The door opened and a girl entered. Willow recognised her as being from Eight. She joined the trainer and he gave her the same information he gave them. Willow and Tupelo completed their shelter and climbed inside. The trainer came over to check it.

"Perfect, perfect! You see, this is how you stay warm in the cold. Having someone with you is good too, you can cuddle!"

The girl from Eight smiled. "Yeah."

She helped them to build a firepit, and then they left to the warmth of the training hall.

"Looks like there's no one in the heat room yet if you want to do there next," said Tupelo. Willow nodded.

"Sounds good."

"Mind if I tag along?" asked the girl from Eight. Willow shrugged.

"Sure, why not? I'm Willow, this is my District partner Tupelo."

"Tyla."

The heat survival room was the direct opposite of the cold room, filled with scorching sand and way too hot for comfort. They learnt how to stay cool and find water and shelter.

They split from Tyla after that and went to the foraging station while she moved on to shelter building. Foraging was easy, Willow had often done it with her siblings as a child during the summer, when berries and fruit were plentiful. The boy from Five found it hard though.

As they were finishing with that lunch was set on in the canteen at the side of the lower training hall. Most of the tributes sat in ones and twos, alliances still uneasy, except the Careers, who bunched together at the end of the largest table.

"They're not the biggest problem this year though," Tupelo said. Willow frowned.

"What?"

Tupelo nodded across the room. She glanced over at the huge boy from Ten, who had three peacekeepers close by. "Him?"

"The Careers are a threat, but he's dangerous. Mark my words, he's going to be our biggest problem."

Willow wasn't sure what scared her more, Colby Marshall, or the fact Tupelo said 'our,' as though they were officially a team.

 **District Eight Male, Calico Weaver (15)**

He tried telling himself he was going to die, just to see how it sounded in his head, but it still didn't feel real. The Careers, who were probably going to be his cause of death, stayed down in the weaponry area of the training centre. Calico stayed away from them and in the survival area.

He went to the shelter building station first, where he met the boy from Five, Isaac.

"So what's it like, being the son of the Mayor?" Calico asked.

"What's it like not being?" Isaac shot back. Calico blushed.

"Was that rude?"

"Yes. And not really original. I can't count how many times people have asked me that."

"Sorry."

Isaac went on to the foraging station and so Calico went to fire building, which seemed fairly straightforward. He worked there until lunch was announced.

In the canteen he found a seat as far from his future killers as possible and filled his plate with the variety of food the Capitol had. It all tasted so much better and was so much more filling than what he had back home.

He tried the foraging station when he returned to the floor, where he met the girl from Nine. She sifted through the berries and leaves and tapped at the glowing orange screen in front of them.

"You're good at that," Calico said. She glanced at him.

"We get to pick wild foods in the summer back home."

Maybe that was why the rural Districts had more Victors than the urban ones. Their tributes had more practical survival skills.

"We never did anything like that."

"I'm sure you're good at something."

Calico tried to think of something. He came up short. He had only been working in the cotton factory for a year, and his hobbies were reading and drawing. He could do nothing with those in the arena.

He went down to the swimming pool next. Swimming was something he could do. District Eight had one pool, a crumbling place now, and as a child his mother had taken him and Satin every Saturday morning. He couldn't remember when he stopped, but it came back to him easily. A Capitol trainer treading water asked if he needed any help. Calico turned him down and tried to enjoy himself, but it was less fun without Satin.

The twins from Four entered, the boy wearing swimming trunks and the girl wearing, well, very little. Calico blushed.

"See something you like Eight?" asked the girl, folding her arms over her impressive chest. Calico shook his head and went back to swimming. When he stopped at the other end they were still watching, stretching at the side of the pool.

"You were born in the wrong District Eight," called the boy.

"Er. Thanks?"

The girl glanced at her brother. "I'll race you."

The boy grinned and plunged into the pool, with her quickly following. They swam better than anyone Calico had ever seen and scarily fast, shooting to the other side of the pool in a matter of a minute.

"You, ah, you swim well."

The girl grinned. "Thanks."

"I'm Calico by the way."

She stared at him for a moment. "Astoria. This is Orion."

"Nice to meet you I guess."

The boy from One entered. Calico swam over to the ladder to climb out. If the Career pack had decided they wanted to hang out in the pool, he didn't want to be here.

At the knot tying station he met the girl from Twelve, Briar, who was prickly and rude, and at the climbing wall he spoke to the girl from Eleven, who seemed to be allying with her District partner and the girl from Ten. At the trap building station he was joined by Isaac from Five again.

"I've seen you talking to all the other tributes," Isaac said.

"What of it?"

"I wondered if you were looking for allies."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

And we're off with training! All the training days are split into two halves, some are a bit longer than others. The second half of Day One should hopefully be posted tomorrow.

Thank you to those that have voted on the poll. Please do vote, because it will have some effect on the outcome.

Also, I have now finished drafting the interviews, which means this story is now drafted all the way up to the start of the Games!


	11. Training Day One Part Two

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Six Female, Kara Transson (17)**

She sat at the fire building station for much of the morning, watching the flames burn. This was what she would do to the arena. She'd teach these damn Capitolites to dare reap her. Her!

A few other tributes came and went, but she had no interest in making allies. Her District partner, Logan, was making a fool of himself at the spear station.

"You should have some lunch and try some of the other stations," the Capitol trainer said when lunch began. Kara helped herself to some bread and jam and sat down at the knife training station.

If she won this, she thought suddenly as she sunk the knife into the dummy, they could have a house for a home again, money, proper food. They wouldn't have to be street kids anymore. No one would look down on them again. She could take care of everyone, herself, her brothers, Axle's kids.

She had to fight.

She abandoned the knife station for the axes, where the District Seven pair were working in the simulator. Axes were heavy but easy to swing and deadly when one sunk them into the torso.

She needed to fight.

She let the trainer adjust her grip on the axe and swung it at him, only to be deflected by his shield.

She must fight.

When it was her turn in the simulator she imagined the enemies were real, that each and every one of them was one of the twenty three tributes that were her enemies, the twenty three tributes that needed to die in order for her to go home and take care of everyone.

She had to fight.

She needed to fight.

She would fight, she would burn, and she would bring them all down burning with her, and when all was said and done and ashes at her feet, she would laugh and stand victorious.

Just try and stop her.

 **District Nine Male, Silas Fields (18)**

After watching the reapings again the night before and all the tributes during training in the morning, Silas knew who he wanted on his side. He approached the pair from Seven first. They had left the axe station, where the girl from Six was now attacking the orange figures in the simulator, and moved onto the climbing wall. They were both good. He supposed they climbed a lot of trees back home.

"Hi."

They stopped to look at him.

"Hi," replied the boy.

"It's Tupelo and Willow, right?"

The girl narrowed her eyes. "Yeah. You're from Nine, right?"

"Silas Fields. Look, let's cut to the chase. Do you want allies?"

He felt safe assuming they were already allying since they hadn't left each other's side since they entered the training hall.

"Maybe. Why?"

"I want to ally with you. And the girl from Eight too if she's willing."

The two of them looked at each other.

"Let's grab Tyla and talk about it," said Willow.

Tyla was quite pleased about the prospect of an alliance with the three of them. "You're the allies I wanted. With the exception of the Careers and the Ten boy, we're the strongest tributes this year."

Silas nodded. "That's my thoughts. I'm not looking for friends, this would be solely a matter of convenience. We'll be even stronger together."

"I'm in."

They looked at the pair from Seven.

"Can we talk about it for a minute?"

"Sure."

The two stood and moved aside to have a hushed discussion. Tyla tapped her fingers against her leg. "So why'd you volunteer?"

"To win."

The Seven pair returned.

"Alright, we're in," said Tupelo. Silas smiled.

"So we're all in agreement?"

"Looks that way."

"And no one is under any illusions?"

"Nope."

"Good. So, were any of you planning on entering the bloodbath for supplies?"

"I was," Tyla said.

"Me too. The Careers this year are weak. I think we should absolutely aim to get weapons and target the girl from Two in the bloodbath."

Willow went grey. "You want to deliberately go after a twelve year old girl?"

"No, I want to deliberately go after a twelve year old monster. There's a difference, and if we can take her out, we weaken the pack."

Tyla nodded slowly. "You know, depending on what the arena's like, we could even stand a good chance at taking the cornucopia for ourselves."

"We'd have to take out more than just the Two girl for that," Tupelo said.

"He's right. They might be idiots, but they're strong idiots. We'll have to see how the bloodbath pans out. But I think we should definitely be able to get weapons and supplies. Besides, if we're not tethered at the cornucopia, we'll have better luck hunting down the other tributes."

"We're going to hunt?" Willow asked.

"Well yeah."

This was, after all, what he had trained for.

 **District Two Female, Valkyrie Slate**

It was different here to the academy. There were no set schedules or classes, no one to tell her where to go or what to do, and not many tributes her age. When she won, she would only be the second twelve year old Victor in history. In order for her to win, all these other tributes, all her allies, were going to have to die. She touched her bruised cheek. There was one tribute she wouldn't mind killing herself. That was, if Maximus didn't get there first.

Astoria, Orion and Lucian returned from the pool and joined them at the balance activities station, which was where they had gathered for the end of the day. Valkyrie had never seen anyone as pretty as Astoria. She had never known someone so perfect could exist. Even after she had been swimming her hair looked amazing, falling down her back in thick, shining waves.

"Your hair even looks good when it's wet! Can you teach me to do that? Mine just goes all stringy and icky."

Astoria smiled and ruffled her blonde hair. "Sorry kiddo, I think it's just a matter of hair types."

She touched her! She actually touched her!

The balance activities consisted of two long balance beams, a thicker one that led onto a thinner one and a series of stepping stones on top of high pillars or hung from swings from the ceiling. A net was strung beneath them for if and when tributes fell. The trainer at the station, a short woman with violent pink hair, demonstrated the activity first, bouncing across the beams and leaping easily over the stepping stones. "The Gamemakers have recommended all tributes perfect these."

Diamond insisted on going first, of course. She made it halfway across the balance beam before slipping and falling off. Maximus went next. To Valkyrie's delight he made it a little further before missing his footing and falling to the net. Lucian stepped up to go next, only for Diamond to push past him.

"I'm going again."

"Off you go then."

Diamond got a little further this time, holding her arms out to balance herself. She would be pretty if not for her constant scowling. Lucian went next, and got further than both of them before tripping over his own feet

Valkyrie stepped up to the front. Diamond shoved her aside. "I'm going again."

"Diamond," Lucian protested. Maximus shook his head.

"Let her." He touched Valkyrie's arm. "She hurt you?"

"No."

Diamond got a little further this time. Valkyrie clambered up the ladder before she could get off the net. She looked at the trainer. "Could you go out in front of me, so I can see how you move?"

The trainer smiled. "Yes yes!" She bounded onto the beam.

"Slower!"

"Oh, oops! It's just I love this station." She tiptoed back to the start. "You do it like this."

Valkyrie followed her along. It really wasn't that hard once one could see the technique in front of her. She made it to the end of the bigger beam to applause from Maximus and Astoria. Astoria was clapping for her! The trainer jumped onto the smaller beam. Valkyrie stepped over instead and swayed unsteadily. The trainer glanced back at her. "Follow my steps Valkyrie."

She did, making her way carefully along the beam to the opposite platform, where she could either go on to the stepping stones or down the ladder. "Yes! Ha! Take that!"

Diamond scowled more and stepped onto the beam, striding across it. Her foot slid off and she fell with a shriek.

Astoria went next. She danced across with ease, because of course she did, her wet hair playing across her face. Orion wasted little time in joining them, ignoring Diamond's attempt to push past him. He seemed reluctant to let Astoria too far from him, Valkyrie had noticed. She couldn't help wondering whether they had always been like that or whether it was the threat of the Games hanging over them. Diamond tried and failed again at the balance beam. Orion eyed up the stepping stones. "Want to try these while we're waiting for the slow pokes?"

Valkyrie beamed. "Absolutely!" She glanced up at Astoria. "You can go first. Uh, if you want, that is."

Astoria gazed out across the stepping stones before stepping out and skipping over them to the other side. She made it look like child's play. Orion gave Valkyrie a nudge. "Ladies first."

She laughed and stepped out, attempting to copy Astoria's ease. On the third pillar she swayed too far left, overcorrected, and fell to the net below. Above her, Orion leapt over the stones to join his sister. There were no words for how much she hated him right now.

 **District Three Male, Gadge Bishop (12)**

Gadge had tried and tried, but he couldn't get more than five steps along the balance beam or three podiums into the high suspended stepping stones before he lost his balance and fell to the net a few feet below. He heaved himself back onto the platform. One attempt at the activity was enough to mark it down that he had tried, but the trainer had said that tributes were recommended to perfect this activity, and it seemed so random compared to everything else that Gadge had spoken to Laurentia. He discovered that it had not been on the list of compulsory stations in the earlier few years that she had been escort. Gadge theorised that meant it must have something to do with the arena, which in turn meant he had to master it. He climbed up the ladder for the sixth eighth time that afternoon.

Most of the other tributes had left for the evening by now. The only ones Gadge knew were about were the girl from District Five, who was working at the knife station, and the girl from District Eight, who was training in the spear simulator.

He and Data hadn't agreed to a formal alliance, but there was an unspoken agreement at the moment to stick together. It seemed crazy, allying with the heavily pregnant woman, but she was his District partner and they got along.

Gadge pulled himself back up to the podium for the stepping stones and stared at the path they led to the opposite platform. The three biggest ones were easy, and then they narrowed to tiny platforms barely bigger than the two of his feet. He stepped onto the first. Here in the training centre he knew there was a net waiting to catch him, but in the arena there wouldn't be. If he fell, he would hit the ground however far below it happened to be. He put one foot onto the first of them. His legs ached from trying different positions and actions. He brought his second foot after the first. That was one. He made his foot move again and take a second step. His knees shook. He swayed left and fell from the podium.

He just wasn't made for physical activities.

He could finish complex maths and physics equations in minutes.

Work out and improve blueprints and complex technology plans in under an hour.

Devour books of nothing but numbers for days on end.

Sit and work with tangles of wires and microchips for months.

Fix up a computer until it was good as new.

But physical activity like this just wasn't for him.

He climbed back onto the ladder.

Two minutes later he landed on the net again.

A face appeared at the side of the net. Gadge yelled and scrambled up the other side. It was the girl from Eleven, Zinnia, he realised a moment later.

"You done here yet?"

"I wasn't, no."

"Could you take a break for bit? We want a go." She indicted herself and the dark skinned boy beside her who Gadge recognised as being her District partner.

"We could all work on it together."

The boy blushed and frowned. "Let's just give him a bit longer Zee."

"Why? He's not getting any better at it."

"Zee!"

"No, she's right. You two go ahead."

He fetched a glass of water from the canteen while the two of them worked on the balance activity. The girl, Zee, was good, really good, but the boy kept slipping off as though his feet couldn't hold him. Gadge remembered from the reaping so that he had been on crutches. Even he finally made it to the other side of the balance beam. Gadge climbed up to join them. The boy fell off the stepping stones on his first attempt and struggled off the net to try again. "A year ago I could have done this without a second thought."

"Yeah, well, it's not a year ago. Come on, try again."

Gadge pulled himself onto the platform for the balance beam. Zee glared at him. "What you want?"

"Can I join you?"

"No!"

The boy muttered something to her. She narrowed her eyes. "Fine. Get over here then."

Gadge tried to remember the way she moved on the beam and started confidently out, but about halfway, which was further than he usually got, he slipped and tumbled to the net. He crawled over to the ladder to their platform and climbed up. The boy smiled. "I'm Oliver, this is my District partner Zinnia. Don't mind her; she's like that with everyone."

Zinnia scowled.

"I'm Gadge."

"You've been up here ages. Do you enjoy it?"

"No. I just can't get it right!"

"Ah. Well, Zinnia and I could help if you'd like."

"Thanks."

Zinnia was every bit as scary as she looked but Oliver was nice. They showed him a different method to the trainers and at last Gadge was able to make it back and forth across the balance beams and most of the way across the stepping stones.

"You've been a lot of help. Thank you."

"Sure. See you tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah."

Everyone was already in bed by the time he made it back to his apartment. Gadge crawled into bed and dreamt of how he was going to die.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

That's the end of day one then folks. There are four more training chapters, and then it's on to the Private Sessions stuff. Are there any thoughts on stereotypes or how you think characters will do now that you've seen a bit more of them?

Here's the list of current alliances:

Careers: Diamond, Lucian, Valkyrie, Maximus, Astoria, Orion.

Alliance One: Zinnia, Oliver, Sierra.

Alliance Two: Calico and Isaac.

Alliance Three: Silas, Tyla, Willow, Tupelo.

Alliance Four: Data and Gadge.

Loners: Electra, Kara, Logan, Maizie, Colby, Ash, Briar.

Any predictions for other alliances or guesses for how these ones will work out? Also, feel free to shout out names for the alliances if you think of one.


	12. Training Day Two Part One

**Chapter Twelve: Training Day Two Part One**

 **Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Four Male, Orion Achoda (18)**

They woke at half three, a time that they were more used to going to bed, dressed, and made their way down to the training hall as they agreed last night. If and when they left the Careers, they would have to leave all the supplies at the cornucopia, and there was only so much they could carry. They both agreed it would be a good idea to work on survival skills other than foraging. All too often surviving was the downfall of Career tributes. The academy taught some survival skills, but it was no secret that the Gamemakers usually left crates of food and supplies in the cornucopia for the tributes who could get there to claim them, and since those tributes were usually the Careers the academy didn't bother with too much survival training beyond the basics. Even in the more recent years, when the Gamemakers had started destroying the cornucopia or forcing tributes away from it, the Careers usually managed to get their hands on some of the better equipment. He and Astoria did have some hands on experience at survival but the equipment in the Capitol could be fun to train with and there was no such thing as overpreparing.

They started at the fire building station. The trainers were different from the day before, which shouldn't be surprising.

"Be careful when and where you light a fire and what fuel you use. Remember the fire keeps you warm ad safe, but it can also lead other tributes straight to you."

Other tributes like the Careers they were about to stab in the back.

They tried all the different fuels. Some produced thick black smoke, others wispier, pale stuff. After an hour and a half they moved on to the shelter building station, which contained a massive amount of materials to build different kinds of shelters in. They built one all citizens in Four were taught as children, with branches as a frame and large leaves weighed down with stones as cover. During the rich period in the summer when people went out to the islands to catch the bigger prey, they lived in shelters like these. Orion and Astoria lay in theirs.

"The others are a bunch of idiots. What's to stop us killing them on the first night?"

Astoria looked at him. "What?"

"We take first or second watch, together. We wait for them to sleep. We kill them all, Maximus and Diamond first."

Astoria's tongue brushed over her lips. "It could work. And we could stay based at the cornucopia for a bit longer."

"We'd be taking out some of the biggest threats straight off the bat."

They'd be safe a little longer.

Astoria smiled. "Let's do it."

They skipped rope work and knot tying since they had done quite enough of that as children thank you very much and went over to trap building, where they remained until other tributes began filtering into the hall. Maximus was the first of the Careers. "Early risers?"

Astoria gave him one of those easy smiles. "We haven't been here that long. Thought we'd waste a bit of time waiting for you."

"The nurse was just seeing Valkyrie. She'll be down soon. Maybe you two should hide."

Orion groaned but Astoria laughed.

"I don't mind her."

Maximus scuffed his boot against the floor. "Wasn't meant to be her. She shouldn't be here."

"Too late now."

"You two won't target her will you? She's a good kid, and she likes you."

"Of course we won't," Astoria said, the lie pouring from her lips like poison.

 **District Three Female, Data Huxley (18)**

She was taking Little One to their death. None of it felt real yet. She was meant to be getting married next month, after Little One was born. She was meant to spend a long life with Sean.

No formal alliance had been agreed between her and Gadge, but they had some sort of unspoken agreement. Part of her did wish her District partner had been someone older and stronger.

"Have you tried the balance activities yet?" Gadge asked. Data ran a hand over her stomach.

"No. And I don't plan to."

"I think you should. Especially since it's going to be harder for you than most people. Statistically speaking there's a good chance it's arena important."

"If I fall it could hurt Little One."

"If you fall in the arena you could both die."

"Gadge, there is no way you are getting me up there."

"I really think you should. And it'll affect your training score if you don't even try."

"I'm not risking Little One."

"You're risking them more by not going up there."

The discussion was disrupted by the boy from Eleven approaching them. "Um. Is now a bad time?"

"No, it's okay," replied Gadge.

"It's just, we, er, we just wanted to ask if you wanted to join us for breakfast." He pointed at one of the tables, where his District partner was sat with the little blonde girl from Ten.

"Can Data come?"

"Sure!"

Gadge introduced the boy as Oliver and girl from Eleven as Zinnia. Their ally, the girl from Ten, was Sierra.

"Do you know whether it's a girl or boy?" she asked. Zinnia cuffed her round the ear.

"Sierra!"

"No, it's alright. And no, I don't. It's too expensive to get that kind of thing done in Three unless it's urgent. So far I've had no problems."

"Is it going to be born soon?"

"I hope so."

Sierra beamed. "I always wanted a little sister, or even a brother, but mummy said she couldn't have any more."

Data wanted a big family once. She'd changed her mind on that in the past few days.

"Data doesn't want to try the balance activities," Gadge said. Zinnia looked her over.

"Probably a good call."

"No, it's not! What if she needs to do it in the arena? It'll be harder for her, and her life could depend on it."

At least his heart seemed to be in the right place.

"Kid, I'm pretty sure she'll have bigger problems once she's in the arena."

Data ran her hand over her stomach.

"But I-"

"I appreciate the thought," Data said, and that was that.

She spent the morning working at the traps station. Zinnia joined her for a short while and then moved to the floor below. Gadge came over shortly before lunch to try and lure her onto the balance activity, which she refused.

The five of them met up to eat lunch together, along with the girl from Nine, Maizie. Oliver fidgeted. "So, er, Data. Zinnia and I were wondering if you wanted to join our alliance. Gadge said yes, but only if you joined too, so…"

She was a consolation prize. Lovely. Then again, she hadn't anticipated anyone wanting to ally with her. Some allies had to be better than none.

"I'm in."

 **District Six Male, Logan Ford (16)**

This could be a blessing in disguise. It was a chance for all of Panem to see just how amazing he was. The other tributes were nothing, he could crush them all.

He went round a few of the survival stations yesterday with the other weakling tributes. What he would need it for he didn't know. With him in the arena these Games would be over fast.

For weaponry he started at the trident station. The audience loved a man with a trident. Logan selected the biggest one. It was heavier than he expected. He dropped it on his foot. The trainer, a man with silver hair and deep green skin, hurried over. "Oh no no. You must choose one more suited to you."

There was laughter from the tributes from Four, who had been walking past.

"Have you ever worked with a trident before?" asked the boy.

"Pssh. How hard can it be?" Logan grabbed a smaller trident with one hand. It too was heavy and he had to grab it with his other hand before he dropped it.

"You hold it like this." The trainer dared to touch his hands. The girl from Four, who was totally hot and would have been at his knees back in Six, giggled.

"Well here's our entertainment for the day brother-mine."

She had no right to mock him! Logan scowled. "I know how to hold it! And you two'll be asking me to join the Careers, just watch!"

"Of course. As with all weapons you are best aiming for the stomach, chest-"

"I know what I'm doing alright!" Logan cut the trainer off and thrust the trident at the dummy. It went straight through its stomach.

"Give me something better than this dummy!"

The trainer took a trident. "Try to hit me."

"What? Fine then, let's see what you have." He swung for him and the trainer stepped aside. "What? Hey! Stop moving!"

The trainer hit him in the side. "You would be dead."

"Gah! Only because you cheated."

"There are no rules in a fight to the death Six." The boy from Four stepped into the marked square for the station and took a trident from the rack. "Shall we sister-mine?"

"Watch and learn Six." She followed her brother into the square and took a smaller trident for herself. "Is there a normal score system here?"

"First to three," replied the trainer.

"Works for us."

They sprang into action, spinning around each other, the tridents clanging and striking. It was over in a matter of minutes, with the boy winning, even if Logan wasn't sure why. He strutted over to the girl as she put her trident back. "Never mind hot stuff. I'm better with swords if you wanted to join me."

"No thank you. There's only so much idiocy I can take in one day."

"You'll regret it, you'll see. I could take real good care of you honey, and you'll be begging me to join the Careers after you see my score."

"Was that meant to be an audition? Because you just crashed and burnt, _honey."_ She turned on her heel to leave. Who did she think she was turning her back on him? She should be begging for his attention! He followed them from the station.

"You'll regret losing all this gorgeous, especially when you see what I can do with a sword."

"I don't think so. See you around Six."

"You can come see me tonight. I'll show you a real good time if you know what I mean." He slapped her bum as he passed them. The boy yelled and flew for him, grabbing his collar.

"Don't touch her!"

The girl draped her arms over his shoulders. "Orion. It's not worth it."

The boy growled.

"Besides, who can blame him? We all know I'm irresistible."

A trio of peacekeepers appeared at their side. "Break it up here now, save it for the arena."

The boy let go. "Watch. Your. Back." He took the girl's arm and the two swept away. Who did they think they were? He'd show them once they got into the arena. There would be nothing to stop him killing the boy and claiming the girl then. For now he'd move onto swords, where the District One chick was training. The audience loved a man with a sword. Sometimes if they loved him enough they'd send a customised one. Yeah, a sword would be the thing for him.

 **District Eight Female, Tyla Calico (17)**

They had discussed it, but the only other person any of them really wanted for their little alliance was the girl from Eleven and she was building her own. Silas called them a bunch of mooks. "What she's doing with them when she could ally with us I don't know. Unless she plans on using them as meat shields or sponsorship earners."

That was a tactic Tyla had seen used before, and it never seemed to end well. She joined the Eleven girl at the knife station, where she had just finished beating the simulator. "You know, there's a place for you in our alliance if you want it."

"I don't."

Tyla folded her arms over her chest. "Why not though?" She glanced across the hall, where the Nine girl and Eleven boy were practising badly with the sickles. "Ours is the stronger alliance, and it would be even stronger if you joined. We might even have a chance at winning the cornucopia."

"Not interested."

"So what are you going to do when your alliance gets slaughtered in the bloodbath by us and the Careers? You'll be left with no allies."

The Eleven girl scowled. "If you and slash or your little friends gun for my allies in the bloodbath Eight, I will make it my sole mission to kill the lot of you, and I don't care if I survive!"

"Is that why you're allying with them? You must know you can't protect them!"

"I'll ally with who I want Eight, and that isn't you."

"Fine. Just don't expect to come crawling to us in the arena."

"Oh, I won't."

"Any luck?" Silas asked later as they ate lunch. Tyla shook her head.

"She's got her mind made up."

"Never mind. We're strong enough as we are."

They were the strongest alliance this year. The Careers were a mess, and the Eleven girl's alliance was big, but consisted of a bunch of children and pity cases. Had Tyla not worked so hard that could have been her, but all that time running and working out in her basement had paid off. She would not be going into the arena unprepared or alone.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

This chapter should have gone up Saturday, but the issues with the site messed everything up. Anyways, this officially marks the halfway point of training! Big thank you to Dreamer for reviewing the previous chapters! The second half of Day Two should go up tomorrow.


	13. Training Day Two Part Two

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Ten Male, Colby Marshall (18)**

The other tributes were a bunch of spindly weaklings. This arena was going to belong to him.

Part of him wondered whether the reaping had been rigged. It had been done before, and it was no secret the District hated him. They had made a big mistake. What didn't kill him only made him stronger, and Colby had no plans on dying yet.

There was an empty space of chairs and tables around him as he ate lunch. The other meals had been the same. His main company during his time in the Capitol had been four peacekeepers. Colby wondered just how strong they would be without their weapons and armour. He supposed they would be just like the weakling tributes waiting for him to kill them.

Little precious Sierra had found herself some allies and was sat chattering away to them. He would definitely kill her in the arena, but he hadn't decided when or how yet. He could make her his first kill, take her out in the bloodbath, snap her little neck or bash her skull in.

Or…

Or he could let her go. Let her think she'd escaped for a bit. Then he would find her in the arena and kill her slowly, savouring her little screams. He'd done it before. Oh, he could still remember that first one's cries!

Colby smiled.

He could make the best of this situation, absolutely.

 **District Twelve Female, Briar Flint (16)**

Briar was itching to get her hands on that bow.

She was sticking to the survival stations, refusing to let the other tributes see what she could really do, but…

She really was itching to get her hands on that bow.

Swimming, climbing, and the balance activity were compulsory, so she had to go down to the combat station to do those, and the archery station was empty. Several bows stood on stands, but it was the large, shining black one that caught Briar's attention. She wanted that. She drifted close to the archery station just to get a better look.

"Care for a go?" asked the trainer.

"No thank you." She moved on quickly.

Her father taught her, Lily, and Rosie to swim years ago, when Rosie was still tiny, in a pond in the woods. Briar still swam there sometimes. The pool here was better than that though. She joined the pair from Seven in the water and swam several laps until the trainer was satisfied.

"Hey, you're the Twelve girl aren't you?" called the Seven girl.

"What of it?"

"That was brave, what you did for your sister."

"Yeah."

"You know, I think you're stronger than what you're showing everyone. If you want allies…"

"I don't. But thanks for the offer."

She could hear the boy telling the girl off as she left to get changed.

The climbing wall was easier. The balance activities were harder, but not impossibly so, and she spent a bit longer on them as the trainer recommended her abilities on them be as good as possible. Briar tried to stop herself gazing longingly at that bow. Maybe she could come down tonight, when none of the other tributes were around.

She practised a little at the knife station, careful to be clumsy and sloppy, so the other tributes could see her, and then moved back upstairs.

Ash was working at the shelter station. She hadn't seen him try anything combat related yet. Briar knew better than to get too close to him, he was one of the youngest tributes and she was pretty sure he would die in the bloodbath. Twelve's tributes usually did. Rosie would have done, sweet, innocent Rosie who couldn't hurt a fly.

She couldn't have stood by and let that happen.

She sat down at the traps station. Trapping was more Aiden's thing than hers, but she was good enough. She would still have preferred that bow though.

She was dying to get her hands on that bow.

The trainer showed her a few simple traps for prey and explained how they could be altered to catch a human enemy if needed. Briar knew others that would be better and knew that Aiden would have known many more.

Ash came close to the station while she was working there and avoided it when he saw her there.

It was for the best really.

 **District One Female, Diamond Blush (17)**

Some of the weakling tributes stayed in the training centre canteen for the evening meal, but Diamond and Lucian returned to the District One floor to eat there with Tiberious, Tiara, Blaise, and a few other District One Victors who had joined them. In particular Gloria Richards caught Diamond's attention. Even now, years after her victory, Gloria remained a popular Victor and a status figure back in One. Diamond wanted that for herself. She wasn't going to become a dried up nothing like Tiara.

Tiberious rambled on between mouthfuls of food. "Words cannot express how happy I am you fixed things with the tributes from Two. They will be your strongest allies in the arena. Until you need to kill them of course. Then they'll be your strongest competitors."

Diamond couldn't wait to kill them. She imagined the looks on their smug faces as they bled out and wondered whether they would beg. Maximus would have to go quickly of course, he was too dangerous, but Valkyrie…

That little bitch! How dare she humiliate her?

With maybe the exception of Tiara, Diamond didn't think she had ever hated anyone quite so much. Even stupid perfect Astoria, with her stupid perfect face and stupid perfect body, was more tolerable than Valkyrie.

She was going to be the one to kill her.

She hadn't decided how yet. If she took her out in the bloodbath it would have to be quick and painless, but she could get away with it in the chaos. She had already decided what she would say to Maximus.

 _"_ _It was the boy from Nine, he just went for her! There was nothing I could do! He was like an animal! I tried to save her but I was too late!"_

She would cry crocodile tears and flutter her eyelashes and comfort him in his hour of need of course, and their alliance would be strengthened with the death of that little bitch, but she wouldn't get to savour the kill.

She could let her survive the bloodbath, volunteer to stay behind with the brat one day while the others went hunting. Then she could savour the kill, bash her skull in or cut her throat, and explain exactly why she had to die. She had already decided what she would say to Maximus there too. _"It was the boy from Ten! He- He hit me over the head, and when I woke up he'd dragged her off and done- done this to her! I tried to protect her but he was just too strong!"_

Or she could wait until the Careers started to fall apart and lure the little bitch away to a nice quiet part of the arena, a cave maybe, if she could find one. Then she would have all the time in the world to take her sweet time cutting up that ugly face of hers, break every limb nice and slowly, and let her die a slow, painful death.

It was exactly what that little bitch deserved.

 **District Eleven Male, Oliver Farmer (14)**

If these were to be his last days alive, he might as well make the most of them. Oliver piled his plate high with a variety of food from the evening buffet. When he imagined his death, he always assumed it would be of old age or starvation, not a death match. Maizie played with her food. "Do you really think we've got a chance? Against all those stronger tributes?"

"Statistically speaking, the most likely Victor would be one of the tributes from One, Two, or Four, followed closely by Seven and Ten," said Gadge. Zinnia grunted.

"Great. Just what we all wanted to hear, predictions on who's most likely to outlive us."

"I was only trying to help."

She jabbed her fork at him. "That. Not helping."

Data frowned. "Don't be so hard on him. Besides, you're all more likely to win than me. I've got the lowest odds of all tributes."

Gadge laid his hand over hers. The hard truth was that a massive chunk of their alliance was unlikely to survive the bloodbath. Zinnia, Maizie, and maybe Gadge were the three most likely to make it out. Oliver hoped Zinnia won if he couldn't. Somewhere along the line he'd come to like his District partner.

They stayed in the training hall for a while after tea, working on individual skills. Oliver went back to the knife station. Zinnia insisted on them all to having a weapon they were reasonably confident with, and for him that had to be a knife. There were almost always knives in the arena. The trainer set up the simulation room for him and he stepped inside. His glowing orange opponent swung at him. Oliver swung back, a quick strike like the trainers showed him – and missed. In the arena he would already be dead, killed by an enemy able to move faster than him.

He decided he had had enough of working at the knife fighting station.

As more of the tributes left Oliver climbed up to the balance activities again. He didn't want people around to see him fall. A year ago he could have done this easily.

He perfected a shuffle over the balance beam the night before, but the stepping stones were different. Every time he tried his foot gave way and he fell to the net below. He tried walking, jumping, and crawling over them, but eventually he had to give up on that too. Perhaps it was time to call it a night.

He glanced around the hall for Zinnia and saw her rounding a corner. He limped after her. Her voice echoed down the corridor. "I want to make a deal."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Dun dunn duunnn. Any thoughts? Any guesses?

Quick question, do you folks think Colby needs a warning at the start of the chapter? Just to say, 'hey, heads up, Colby's in this one being himself?'

Big thank you to Hopps for reviewing, and also to violindancing for the follow! For some reason I didn't get any notification about that, so I missed it before.

I'm probably going to be closing the least favourites poll on Friday, so please do get your votes in to that! And if you do have any arguments on why a particular tribute should or shouldn't win, let me know in a review or a message and I'll take it into consideration.

Here's what the alliances look like as of the end of Day Two:

Careers: Diamond, Lucian, Valkyrie, Maximus, Astoria, Orion.

Babysitter's Club: Zinnia, Oliver, Sierra, Maizie, Data, Gadge.

Alliance Two: Calico and Isaac.

Alliance Three: Silas, Tyla, Willow, Tupelo.

Loners: Electra, Kara, Logan, Colby, Ash, Briar.

If you do want to suggest any names for any of the alliances, review or message me!


	14. Training Day Three Part One

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone**

A year ago, if someone asked Maximus what he wanted most in life, he would have said 'to follow in his siblings' footsteps.'

A week ago, if someone asked Maximus what he wanted most in life, he would have said 'to win the Hunger Games.'

Four days ago, if someone asked Maximus what he wanted most in life, he would have said 'to be chosen for the Hunger Games.'

Three days ago he met Valkyrie.

Maximus would be the first person in the world to admit he'd never had a great relationship with his siblings. Jasper preferred his own company, and Grayson and Jeana…

Well, to be fair, Grayson and Jeana were just flat out weird.

But Valkyrie, sweet, bubbly Valkyrie who volunteered half for her sister, half because she just didn't want to get crushed in the brawl, was like the little sister he had never had. She was the first twelve year old tribute Two had had in a hundred and twenty seven years, only semi-trained and semi-prepared. Would he rather have had Anastasia or Faustina here with him, yes, but only because Valkyrie would then be safe at home.

He knocked on Jasper's door. "Can I come in?"

"Sure."

Jasper's walls were covered in drawings. It was like that back home too. Some Maximus recognised, dead tributes and old mutts, others were unfamiliar. Jasper was sat at his desk. "What you need?"

"Some advice."

"Grayson's your mentor."

"I can't talk to Grayson about this."

Jasper grunted. "Girl problems?"

"No, it's-"

"Boy problems?"

"No! It's just- In your Games, in your group of tributes, were there any that you thought would be a more worthy Victor?"

Jasper's head snapped up. "You didn't want me to win?"

"No! No, it's not that! It's- Well, it's Valkyrie."

"Ah, so it is a girl problem."

"Yeah. But not like that, I don't look at her like that."

"If you're worried you won't be able to kill her, don't be. You never know what's going to happen in the arena."

Maximus nodded. "I know. But it's not exactly that either. Valkyrie… She shouldn't even be here, she's just a kid, but she's so brave and strong, and has so much to live for if she became Victor. Me, I just volunteered to keep the honour of the family name."

Jasper turned the page of his notebook and started a new picture. "We're the third generation of Darkstone Victors."

"I know that. But that only means we don't really need another Victor, do we? And Valkyrie… She doesn't deserve to die."

"Do you want to die?" Jasper asked.

"Not really."

"You want to live, she has to die."

"I know that. But she doesn't deserve to. She should be Victor, not me."

"Would you die for her?"

"I don't know."

"Well, you better make your mind up."

Maximus sighed. "You were meant to be helping me feel better."

"Oh, is that what you came here for? I thought you wanted advice."

"I did, but… Can you promise me something, at least? If it comes down to between me and her, make sure they pick her."

Jasper smiled. "That shouldn't be hard. Grayson and Jeana already favour her."

"What?"

"They already favour her." Jasper shrugged. "First time I've seen them actually like someone since they won their Games."

"So even they think she would be a better Victor than me?"

Jasper ripped the page from his notebook. "Who knows what those two think?"

"Yeah. Thanks Jas. Good talk. Very motivating."

"Mm." Jasper handed the paper to him.

Maximus left the room feeling no better. He might be closer in age to Jasper but they had still never been close.

If only he met Valkyrie sooner!

Some of his family's vast fortune could have helped her family massively.

Valkyrie appeared from her room. "Ready to go down to training?"

He stared at her. "Er, no, actually. V- Can I call you V? Valkyrie's going to be a mouthful to shout in the arena."

She grinned. "Only if I can call you Max."

"Deal. I need to talk to you."

 **District Ten Female, Sierra Prime (12)**

She joined her new friend Oliver and their other friends for breakfast in the canteen. Gwen, who was like her teacher, kept telling her they weren't her friends, but she was wrong. Oliver was great, he was lots of fun. Maizie was nice too, but she didn't like to joke around like Oliver. Zinnia was stricter, like a really young mummy, but that was okay. Gadge was her age, but he talked like a grown up, and Data was one of those friends who probably wouldn't be your friend if it wasn't for someone else, in this case Gadge.

Sierra had read and watched everything she could on the Hunger Games while she was on the train, but she still felt behind all the others. If her parents had told her maybe she could have done something but it was too late now.

Zinnia started organising them immediately. "This is the last day of training, so we need to make the most of it. Focus on your best strengths and weaknesses. Oliver, I know you hate doing it in front of the others, but you need to work on the balance activities more. Data, you need to get up there as well, and try to find a weapon. Sierra, Gadge, Maizie, keep going on your survival stations."

Tomorrow they had a time where they could show off what they had learnt, and then they got to go on TV! Sierra was looking forward to that.

She went with Gadge to the foraging station. It was easy but he didn't think so.

"I don't know how you remember all this," he complained.

"It's easy. My mummy taught me."

"Why?"

"Extra food."

After that she moved onto trap building with Maizie. Maizie said they could use the traps for food and the teacher said they could use them against other tributes. Sierra didn't like either of those ideas.

The boy from Eight joined them at the medical station, where the teacher showed them how to stitch wounds and strap up injured limbs. Sierra hoped she would never need to. She would do anything to be back at home again. All she wanted to do was cuddle up with Angus and forget about all of this.

They went down to the lower floor to find Zinnia at the climbing wall with Oliver and the boy from Five.

"This is Isaac."

Sierra beamed. "Nice to meet you!"

Isaac went off with the boy from Eight.

"He wants to talk to him, but he's asked if they can join our alliance," Zinnia said. Maizie pulled a face.

"There'd be a lot of us."

"There'd be safety in numbers," Zinnia replied with a glance at Colby, who was pounding a glowing orange figure in the club simulator. Sierra shuddered. She kept having nightmares about him.

"We should talk to Gadge and Data," Maizie said.

After talking it over with Gadge and Data, they decided to put it to the vote. Zinnia, Oliver, and Sierra said yes. Data and Maizie said no. Gadge hesitated. Data frowned. "Say no. We don't need this alliance getting any bigger."

Zinna scowled at her. "Two can play that game. Say yes. It's two less tributes trying to kill us, and two more tributes on our side against the Careers and the District Ten boy."

Gadge closed his eyes. "Sorry." He voted yes.

 **District Five Male, Isaac Watt (14)**

Calico was hesitant at first. "How do we know they won't just turn on us?"

"They won't. Have you actually seen who's in that alliance? It's all the underdogs, like us. Think, in a bigger group there's more support and more supplies."

"And more strain. More people who could stab us in the back."

"Can you imagine that little girl from Ten stabbing us in the back? I don't think she even knows what the Games are. Pretty sure she still sleeps with a teddy bear."

"That just makes her dead weight!"

"She'll probably die in the bloodbath, we won't have to deal with her for very long. And if she doesn't, the sponsors will love her and we'll profit. The audience loves power alliances like theirs."

"You think so?"

"I know so. All that girl has to do is look cute and they will shower her with gifts. Look at our tribute from last year. She got to the top twelve because she was adorable and the sponsors loved her."

Calico nodded. "Okay."

At last they were in agreement and took their decision over to Zinnia.

"There's room for you here if you want it," she said. Isaac smiled.

"We're in."

They shook hands. He had gone from an alliance of two to an alliance of eight, and suddenly he felt much better about his chances. Most of those in this alliance wouldn't survive the bloodbath anyway, hopefully he would be left with Calico, Zinnia, the girl from Nine and maybe the boy from Three. They were all pretty strong tributes. The Hunger Games were as much about luck and appearances as they were skill, and Isaac had some practise in playing to an audience. His parade costume hadn't done him any favours, but so long as he scored decently at training he should be able to make a joke out of it at the interview.

Zinnia introduced them to the others. The girl from Ten hugged him. "I'm so glad you don't want to kill us."

Isaac patted her awkwardly on the head. "Me too I guess."

He didn't really want to kill anyone, but for him to live they had to die. He would probably be one of the dead ones, but his mum asked him to fight, so fight he would.

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda (18)**

"Forget the others!" Maximus roared. "We need to go after the boy from Ten!"

Diamond scowled. "But then there'll be a load of tributes to chase down! We should take out the weaklings, let him get weakened by the arena, and then take him out!"

"It'll be easier to pick off weaker tributes than it will him!"

"The arena will wear him down, he'll be weaker and hungrier!"

Astoria yawned and tied off Valkyrie's plait. This argument had been going on for half an hour now.

"There you go kiddo. All done."

Valkyrie beamed and sprang to her feet to check it out in the nearest mirror. The District One apartment had plenty of those.

"Thank you so much! It looks so pretty! Can you do my hair like this before we go into the arena?"

"Sure, why not?" She glanced at Orion. "Are they done yet? I'm starving."

"You musclebound brainless moron!"

"Nope, not yet."

"Oh, this coming from the girl with more looks than brains!"

Astoria sighed. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm off to get some food."

"You- You-"

"I'll join you in that sister-mine."

Lucian shook his head. "I better stay and make sure they don't start another fight."

Valkyrie glanced between them and Maximus. "I should stay with Maximus."

"See you later then."

Most of the other tributes were already in the canteen. Astoria filled her plate. The girl from Eleven passed her at the buffet, patting her bum and slipping something into her pocket as she went. "Looking good Four."

Astoria smirked. "Always."

She and Orion took seats where the Careers had sat the last two days. "What do you think the decision will be?"

Orion shrugged. "I don't care what the decision is. I know who I'm targeting in the bloodbath."

"You're too good to me brother-mine."

The other Careers came down fifteen minutes later and filled their plates.

"So what's the verdict?" Astoria asked. Diamond scowled and glared at her plate.

"We're going after the boy from Ten," Maximus said. Diamond scowled harder.

"He's the biggest threat of all the tributes. We need to take him out, fast, and it'll be easier when we're all at our strongest."

Astoria glanced across the hall at the monster from Ten. She didn't like the idea of fighting him, but the thought of running into him in the arena wasn't great either. "Sounds good."


	15. Training Day Three Part Two

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Twelve Male, Ash Coleman (13)**

He had been careful to stay away from the other tributes, sleeping and working on the survival stations during the day and returning for the combat and activity stations during the night, when it was quieter. The only thing he hadn't done was archery practise, since Briar was at that station when he went down last night. She was good. He remembered hearing it said that she was one of those who hunted outside the District boundaries, so she must have some experience.

Ash still thought she was an idiot.

Who would volunteer for this shit?

He finished his lunch and returned to the District Twelve apartment for a nap. It was surprisingly easy to teach himself to sleep in shifts, something he thought might help in the arena, especially with no one to watch his back. Ash didn't want allies. He could end up relying on them, or worse, liking them. They saw it all too often in the Games. He had family to go home to, he didn't need to end up burdened.

He managed an hour's nap and then returned to the training hall. The other tributes were working frantically at various stations. Ash sat down at the rope making station. It seemed innocent enough and there were no other tributes there. Besides, rope making was something he did want to practise. He could use it in setting his traps.

After a while the girl from Five came over and Ash moved on to the bugs station. It seemed less useful, but it never hurt to be prepared.

 **District Five Female, Electra Balfos (15)**

So far her plan was going well. The other tributes barely noticed her. She would be able to creep by unnoticed, stealing and turning other tributes against each other, until either she was forced into confrontation or the time came for rescue. Elsie warned her that she needed to stay entertaining enough for the audience as well, or the Gamemakers would target her with mutts. Hopefully her manipulation of other tributes would be good enough for that.

She wove the grass together between her fingers. It wasn't the strongest but the trainer assured her that done right it could make an animal trap. Electra had spent a lot of time at the trapping station. Traps were something she could set up and leave and hope that they took out an opponent for her.

What worried her most was the bloodbath. It was the only part of the arena down to pure rotten luck. She couldn't manipulate it, she couldn't lie to it, she could only face it head on. That scared her.

Elsie said that if she wasn't near any powerhouses she should try for a rucksack or supplies. Even something small could make a difference. If she was near one of the Big Threats though, she would have to leg it and do her best without.

She tied a small weight to her finished rope and hung it from the rack by the others. Across the hall a fight had broken out between the boy from Ten and the peacekeepers guarding him. His little blonde District partner fled the hall. Electra would have to work to avoid him in the arena. Some of the Capitol shows were branding him 'more dangerous than the Careers' and 'a hulking bad boy.' There were already altered pictures floating around of him covered in blood and wearing the Victor's crown. Electra had also seen similar images of other tributes. There were none of her. She wasn't seen as pretty or violent enough to have made an impression.

She went up to the apartment for tea. Vida was already drunk with a bottle in one hand and a fork in the other. Electra ate quietly and joined Elsie in the alcove.

"I've been trying to get you out in the sphere a bit, but it's hard. There are a lot of standout tributes this year, and you're just not one of them."

Electra knew of at least one thing that would make her The Most Standout of all the tributes, but she couldn't use it of course.

"I have got three sponsors very interested in you though, which is a start. Once you're in the arena and having some success I might be able to get more in."

Electra nodded.

"For your private session you need an average score. Aim for four to six. Anything higher than a seven will get you attention from other tributes, which would be a shame. You need a good show for your interview though. I've been having words with Attikus, your dress will be better than your parade costume."

"It could hardly be worse."

"You could have been the Twelve girl."

Electra winced. "Yeah."

"Also, I may as well let you know, Isaac has joined that large alliance led by the Eleven girl. I confirmed it earlier. With such a big alliance you could definitely work on causing some trouble there."

Electra smiled. "Noted."

"But it also wouldn't be out of the question for you to join it and disturb things that way. Isaac might still have some District loyalty to you."

Isaac was a nice kid. Back in District Five she might even have been friends with him.

"Take an early night. You'll want to save your strength for tomorrow."

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

They ate tea in the canteen with Silas and Tyla. Silas's Career outlook was beginning to get more and more disturbing, but it felt too late to pull out now. They needed this alliance, at least for the first few days.

"So we all know what we're doing tomorrow?"

"Yup," Tyla agreed.

"We need good high scores. We need to show them we're every bit as good as the Careers. We're not just knock-offs." Silas leant over the table. "I've been watching them. In the bloodbath we go for the Two girl and the boy from One if we can. They're the weak links. And remember, forget the supplies outside the cornucopia. We need stuff from inside it, or close enough to. They're the better supplies and weapons."

He'd been preaching that since they met.

"We should talk about the alliance in the interview. Let them know we're strong," Tyla said. Her gaze ran across the hall to the girl from Eleven. She had been strangely keen to pull her into the alliance and disappointed when the other girl kept turning her down. "Not like that bunch of chumps."

For a moment Tupelo wished he and Willow were part of 'that bunch of chumps.' They looked like they all actually liked and trusted each other, like they were friends. They'd only get their hearts broken in the end though. With these three he knew where he stood. They had already decided that they would break up once they were down to the final twelve tributes and go their separate ways. His separate way might just be the same one as Willow. He'd never met anyone that made his heart beat like she did.

"I'm going to turn in. No point in being tired for tomorrow," Tyla announced, kicking her chair back. They murmured parting words. She was in this solely for the stability of a strong alliance. She was also guaranteed to kill him if he started slowing the alliance down. Not like Willow, who he was pretty sure would support him.

"Fancy some last minute combat training?" Silas asked.

"No, we should get going too," Willow said. Tupelo nodded.

"Yeah. We'll, uh, see you in the morning."

In the lift Willow closed her eyes and ran a hand through her long red hair. "He scares me."

"Me too."

Willow swallowed. "Could we split in the bloodbath do you think?"

"I wouldn't put it past him to hunt us down. Besides, it does give us some stability for a bit. I'm pretty sure Tyla won't stab us in the back while we're still useful to her."

Willow nodded. The lift doors opened to their floor, which had a large, dark green seven on the floor. She stared at the buttons and then pressed the one for the floor above.

"Willow?"

"Let's go speak to Tyla."

The lift rose to a floor with a pink eight on the floor.

"About what?"

"Alliances."

They knocked at the apartment door, which was opened by Eight's female mentor.

"You've got the wrong floor."

"We need to talk to Tyla. Is she still up?"

"She is."

They gathered in the common area of Eight's apartment along with the mentor, Lacey.

"He's not here, so I'm guessing this is about Silas?"

"Yeah. We wanted to know if, when the alliance splits, or earlier than that maybe, you'd be on our side or his," said Willow.

"I'm on my side."

"Bad wording. If we start a fight with Silas, would you support him or us?"

"If we're talking about at the separation, yours. If we're talking about earlier, I'd have to see."

"Great. So here's the plan."

 **District Nine Female, Maizie Miller (16)**

They had one day between them and the arena. One day in which they could show off to the Capitol. One day between them and imminent death.

Even with Isaac and Calico having joined, she was one of the strongest tributes in their alliance. It had been decided that she, Zinnia and Calico would be the ones to grab backpacks, Gadge, Sierra and Isaac would get what they could from near the pedestals and Oliver and Data would flee. With such a big alliance it was almost certain some of them would die. They had one day between them and that.

"No one's going to be thrown out if they don't do well, but everyone needs to do their best for the private sessions," Zinnia said.

"And then we get to go on TV!" Sierra squealed. Maizie wondered if she even knew what the Hunger Games really were.

"What you want to do for the interviews is all up to you, but I think we should all at least mention the alliance. People are probably going to be interested in how there ended up being so many of us."

With Isaac and Calico, there were now more tributes in this alliance than there were that hadn't made one at all. Maizie wished she'd had a District partner she could rely on like Earp and Poppy, like Zinnia and Oliver and Data and Gadge did. What she had was Silas, and quite frankly, Silas scared her. She was pretty sure he wouldn't kill her unless they both reached to final six due to District loyalty, but she couldn't rely on him. He'd sooner kill her than save her.

"What do we tell them on that?" asked Gadge. Calico nodded.

"Yeah, do we have like a cover story or something?"

Zinnia wet her lips. "We could say we all got on so well that when we started talking about alliances none of us could bear to rule any of the others out."

Maizie nodded. "That could work. Make it look like we're actually friends, not just using each other like…" She glanced out into the training hall where Silas was going down to the combat stations.

"Exactly," Zinnia agreed.

Data ran her hand over her stomach. Her baby was never even going to have the short shot at life the eight of them had. They all knew what she was going to be talking about in the interview.

They returned to their apartments as a group. Sierra, Zinnia and Oliver dropped her off at her floor.

"See you in the morning," Maizie said.

"Goodnight."

Silas was talking to his mentor, Barry, in the common area. Maizie went straight to her room and jumped in the shower. If she died, her mother would have no one. She had to be the one to come out of that arena. She had to win for her alliance. She had to win for Earp. She had to win for both of them.

 **Author's Note**

And that folks, is officially the end of training! There are still a few chapters to go before the arena though. For now, here's the finalised list of current alliances:

Careers: Diamond, Lucian, Valkyrie, Maximus, Astoria, Orion.

Babysitter's Club: Zinnia, Oliver, Sierra, Maizie, Data, Gadge, Calico, Isaac.

Alliance Two: Silas, Tyla, Willow, Tupelo.

Loners: Electra, Kara, Logan, Colby, Ash, Briar.

I am now going to close the poll on least favourite tributes and post another for your favourite tributes now that we've seen them all. That one will stay up until after the interviews, and then I'll start one on the bloodbath.


	16. Private Sessions

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

The first into the hall was the District One male, Lucian Prince. He started by flashing the nameless Gamemakers a dazzling smile and then sauntered over to the spear station, where he selected one and threw it square into the centre of the target. He then picked up another, which he thrust into the head of one of the dummies before hurling it into the chest of another. After that he strode over to the sword fighting station and challenged one of the trainers to a match, fighting him to a draw. The bell sounded.

"Thank you Mr Prince, your time is up," said the Head Gamemaker. Lucian bowed and left.

Next up was Lucian's District partner, Diamond Blush, who had caused a bit of a stir, being the younger sister of Victor Tiara Blush. She went straight to the sword fighting station and challenged one of the trainers there, beating him within two minutes. She then challenged two at once, beating those too, and then three at once, which took her five minutes to beat. At that point she threw down her sword and took on four of the trainers bare handed, fighting them to a draw.

"Thank you Miss Blush, your time is up."

She rolled her eyes. "But I've barely worked up a sweat!"

"Your time is up Miss Blush."

One of the trainers saw her out.

The first of the District Two tributes was their second Victor relative, Maximus Darkstone. Both his parents and three older siblings were prior Victors. The audience was expecting big things of him.

He started at the mace station, using the simulation room to defeat five opponents with his chosen weapon. It was a disappointing start. Once done there though, he too moved onto the sword fighting station, where he jumped straight in by taking on three trainers with a broadsword and then six opponents in the simulator, beating all of them with ease. By that point his time was nearly out, but he ran to the hand-to-hand station and beat two of the trainers there too before the bell rang.

"Thank you Mr Darkstone, your time is up."

Maximus's District partner was a bit of a dark horse and had divided opinion. There were those who were disappointed at the lack of a small, fiery eighteen year old, and there were those who were waiting to see what she could do.

She went straight to the foraging station, which was a bit of a disappointment. There, she divided the berries into edible and poisonous. She ate a few of the edible ones and took the poisonous ones with her in a dish to the throwing knives station. A few of the Gamemakers frowned and leant forward, waiting. She took one of the knives and ground the berries into a juice to coat the blades of the knives with. From there she threw a few of the knives into the dummies and took the others with her into the simulator, using them to defeat four opponents. The bell rang.

"Thank you Miss Slate, your time is up."

She smiled up at them and bowed before leaving the room.

Next was the boy from District Three, Gadge Bishop. He started at the foraging station, where he scored sixty percent on the foraging quiz and divided the remixed berries into edible and non-edible. From there, he dragged material from the fire lighting station over to the shelter station, built a shelter and made a fire as the bell rang.

"Thank you Mr Bishop, your time is up."

Gadge's District partner, Data Huxley, was the pregnant girl. She waddled into the hall and sat on one of the benches by the fire lighting station. "I think you're all sick in the head. I'm nearly nine months pregnant. I'm ready to give birth at any moment. You're going to send me and my Little One into that arena for your own sick amusement." She wrapped her arms around herself and hummed a lullaby from District Three. The Head Gamemaker decided to end the session early because it was very unnerving.

The District Four tributes had caused a massive stir in the Capitol. They loved the beautiful twin tributes. First in was the boy, Orion Achoda. He bowed to the Gamemakers and then went straight to the knife station instead of the tridents like they expected him to. Orion wrenched the dummy from the station from its supports and dragged it to the centre of the hall. "You know what I'll do to anyone who hurts my sister?" He stabbed a knife through the dummy's hand, mimicking holding it down, and then retrieved a harpoon from that station and slammed it down where the dummy's private parts would have been if it had any. A few of the female Gamemakers sniggered as the male ones squirmed. Orion took a trident from that station and defeated four opponents in the simulator alongside two trainers before walking back over to the dummy and slamming the trident through its chest. "That includes you lot!"

It was a good thing that the bell rang then.

"Thank you Mr Achoda, your time is up."

Orion bowed again and left.

They cleared the dummy away before his sister entered. Astoria was a beautiful girl and the first thing she did for some unknown reason was take off most of her clothes. After that her session was much more usual than her brother's. She went first to the archery station and took a bow into the attached simulation room, where she defeated all the generated opponents within seven minutes. Having time left, she moved on to the trident station and defeated a trainer in a match.

"Thank you Miss Achoda, your time is up."

She pulled her top back on before she left.

Not much had been seen or said of the District Five tributes. First in was the boy, Isaac Watt. He demonstrated survival skills, starting at the foraging station, then moving on to the fire lighting and building a fire to cook his berries before eating them.

His District partner, Electra, was just as uninteresting. She too started at the foraging station, working on the quiz, and then built a trap into which she ran one of the robot practise animals. It was snapped up and suspended by its leg. They had seen plenty of displays like that in the past and she was dismissed.

The boy from District Six, Logan Ford, was entertaining if nothing else. He walked over to the sword station and picked up the biggest broadsword, the one Maximus used, which he then dropped on his foot. He yelled and tried to kick it away, but it was too heavy and he only hurt his foot more. He swore and moved to the spear station, where he tried to use the biggest of the spears, but only managed to throw it about a metre, nowhere near the target. The Gamemakers laughed and dismissed him early.

Kara Transson slunk into the hall and strode straight to the fire lighting station, but she didn't stay there, only pocketing the matches and going back down to the combat stations. She pulled one of the dummies from the spear station free and threw it onto the floor before taking a knife and carving into its chest. When she was done, 'Burn With Us' was carved in crooked letters across its torso. She glanced up at the Gamemakers as if checking they'd seen what she'd done and then struck a match and dropped it on the dummy's stomach. She left without being dismissed. It took them ten minutes to put out the resulting fire and hide the damage.

District Seven had two strong tributes this year. The boy, Tupelo Barker, was first. He took one of the biggest axes and drove it into the nearest dummy, quickly hacking off all its limbs. After that he entered the simulation room and defeated two opponents with the same axe. Once he was done there he strapped the axe across his back and climbed to the top of the climbing wall and back before moving upstairs to the survival station to demonstrate foraging.

His partner, Willow Green, took two of the smaller throwing axes and destroyed four dummies before moving on to the simulation room and taking out three glowing opponents. After that she ran upstairs to the medical station and demonstrated life-saving first aid, before scoring high on the survival quiz.

Up next was Calico Weaver, the boy from Eight. He went straight through to the swimming pool and dove in like a tribute from Four, swimming several laps. Since he showed no signs of wanting to demonstrate another skill, they dismissed him early.

Tyla Calico, the girl from Eight, went to the hand-to-hand station and sparred with three trainers one by one. She then went to the spear station and threw a spear directly into a dummy's head. It was an impressive display for someone from Eight, and she wasn't done, as she went to the running track and managed a lap in a good time. She then went back to the knife station and fought an opponent in the simulator. The bell rang.

"Thank you Miss Calico, your time is up."

Silas Fields, the boy from Nine, was just as impressive. He took a scythe and defeated two trainers before entering the simulation room and taking out four more. Once he was done there he beat three trainers at hand to hand and weight lifted a good amount.

"Thank you Mr Fields, your time is up."

His partner, Maizie Miller, went to the survival skills and demonstrated excellent foraging and medical skills, as well as setting a small trap and catching a practise animal, which she hung over a fire pit.

Colby Marshall was another one everyone was watching. It was love him or hate him in the Capitol. He roared up at the Gamemakers, took a club, and destroyed the dummies at that station, but he didn't stop there. He knocked over the club weapon rack and stomped them to bits and then moved over to the spear station, which was nearest. He destroyed the dummies there too, and was part way through destroying the spears when the trainers stepped in to stop him. One of them ended up with a fractured skull and another with broken ribs. The peacekeepers had to stun him and drag him out.

It was over an hour before they had the hall fixed for his District partner, little Sierra Prime. She beamed up at them and waved. "Hi!"

"Please demonstrate a skill Miss Prime."

She tried the foraging quiz, but only managed a thirty percent. "I know I can do better than that!" She tried again, but only managed forty one percent this time. They dismissed her early.

Oliver Farmer limped in and started at the fire building station. He built a good fire, and a shelter to go with it, and then showed some medical skills.

His partner, Zinnia Kane, did a little better. Like many of the others she worked on the foraging quiz, scoring a good ninety seven percent. She then ran down to the skills floor, where she climbed the climbing wall without a harness in three minutes and crossed the balance beam and stepping stones.

"Thank you Miss Kane, your time is up."

Ash Coleman, the male for District Twelve, came next. He too worked on the foraging quiz, scoring eighty five percent, and then built a complicated trap, which he pushed a dummy into, causing it to be lifted up by one ankle. He mimed cutting its throat with a knife. They had seen plenty of similar performances in the past, oddly enough many from Twelve.

The female for Twelve, Briar Flint, was the last of the tributes. She walked straight to the archery station and took a large, shining black one. Her first arrow hit the edge of the target and a few of the Gamemakers, who had been there for longer than usual because of Colby's performance, sniggered and began to mutter amongst themselves. Her next arrow hit the centre of the target, and the third cut the second neatly in half. She then stepped into the simulator and defeated all the opponents within four minutes. The bell rang.

"Thank you Miss Flint, your time is up."

She put the bow back. "Thank you for your time."

Having seen all twenty four tributes, the Gamemakers now had an hour to finalise their scores for release before the interviews tonight.

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

Yes, the private sessions are rather dull. *sigh* I'll hopefully be releasing the chapter for the scores tomorrow since it's a pretty short chapter.

Big thank you to Hopps, Dreamer, and Goldie for the reviews!


	17. Score Reveal

**Chapter Seventeen: Score Reveal**

 **Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District One**

Both Diamond and Lucian had taken long showers after their private sessions and were sat on a sofa in the common area with Blaise. Tiara was sprawled across two of the armchairs, already drunk, with one earphone in.

At last Felicity Fierce appeared on the screen.

"The moment we've all been waiting for ladies and gentlemen! It's time to see how our tributes for the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games have been scored for their private sessions! First up we've got Lucian Prince of District One with a score of eight!"

Diamond rolled her eyes. "Eight? You couldn't have done better than that?"

"Eight's not a bad score. I got an eight," said Blaise.

"And Diamond Blush of District One with a score of nine! For those of you interested, her sister Tiara scored a ten in her private session, which means she's ahead in that department!"

"Woohoo!" slurred Tiara. Diamond screeched and stormed off to her room.

 **District Two**

District Two's common area was a little crowded with four former Victors, their escort Belladonna, and Max and V all there. They had showered as well after their private sessions. Diamond's score appeared on screen.

"You think you beat her?" V asked. Max shrugged.

"Next up we've got District Two and Maximus Darkstone with a score of ten!"

"Nice going," said Jasper. Grayson and Jeana only smiled.

"And Valkyrie Slate of District Two with a score of nine!"

"Yes!" yelled V, leaping to her feet. Grayson and Jeana grinned.

"Nice going kid."

Max only stared at the screen and wondered how Diamond was going to take this.

 **District Three**

Data and Gadge sat alone in their common room. They had little to do with their mentors and Laurentia was off chattering to their stylists.

"On to District Three, and we've got Gadge Bishop with a score of four!"

Four was about average. Gadge was happy with that.

"And Data Huxley with a score of… wait for it… one!"

Gadge frowned. "You got a one? There's only been one person get a one in the last fifteen years! What did you do?"

"Nothing."

"You did something to annoy them."

Data shook her head. "No, I mean I did nothing. I didn't do anything. Literally."

"Huh."

 **District Four**

All the other Careers had high scores, even Valkyrie. Orion and Astoria held hands and waited for their turn. At least their District was one of the high numbered ones.

"Next up we've got the twins from Four!"

Orion was really starting to hate that phrase. Everyone on the talk shows he'd caught bits of were calling them that.

"Orion Achoda's up first, with a high score of eleven! Would you look at that folks? This is the first eleven we've had in five years, the last one of course being Maximus's older brother Jasper in the one hundred and twenty ninth! But it would seem Astoria can't match her brother, with a lower score of nine!"

"Eleven? What did you do brother-mine?"

"Made it very clear what would happen if anyone messed with my sister."

 **District Five**

Five's oldest Victor, Ion, was snoring on the sofa. Isaac and Electra sat on armchairs waiting. Elsie stood behind the sofa. Her eyes narrowed at the boy from Four's score. Isaac trembled. "Eleven? What do you have to do to get an eleven?"

"As a Career? Be very, very dangerous," Elsie replied.

"District Five all! Isaac Watt with a score of five, and oh look, Five's scores match this year, Electra Balfos with a score of five!"

"Is that good?" Electra asked.

Elsie smiled. "For you? Yes."

 **District Six**

Logan was the only one watching in the Six common room. He had confidence that his score would be nice and high. An eleven like the bastard from Four would be good, or even a twelve. He'd show him what a real man was.

"Next we've got Logan Ford of District Six with a score of two!"

"Two! What sort of lousy score is two?" yelled Logan.

Kara was watching in her bedroom. Outside, Logan continued to yell.

"Who gave me a two? How dare they?"

"And Kara Transson of District Six with a score of… would you believe it folks, eleven! That's right, we've got a second score of eleven in the same Games, and this one from an outlier! I think big things can be expected from Kara!"

 **District Seven**

Tupelo and Willow sat comfortably together on the sofa.

"Did not expect that from District Six," Tupelo said. Willow shrugged.

"I've seen her on a few stations. She seems very fiery."

Hazel shushed them. "Let's see your scores then."

Their pictures appeared on screen above Felicity Fierce.

"District Seven now. First up is Tupelo Barker with a score of eight! That's a nice high score for an outlier, but we've all been admiring his muscles so it shouldn't be a surprise. His District partner Willow is only a point behind with a seven!"

Hazel smiled. "Not bad the pair of you."

 **District Eight**

Calico and Tyla sat with their mentors in the common area. Tyla tapped her foot while Calico worked his fingers together.

"On to District Eight! Let's see shall we? First we've got Calico Weaver, with a score of five! And shooting ahead with another high score, we've got his partner Tyla Calico with a score of eight!"

Five was about what Calico had expected, and Tyla was happy with an eight. It made her a threat and not a target at the same time.

 **District Nine**

Maizie was sat as far from Silas as she could. Again she wished she could have had a District partner to rely on. Silas wished he could have had a strong District partner to back him up. Both of them glared at each other distrustfully.

"I know we've all been excited to see District Nine this year with their trained volunteer, so let's see what they've got to offer shall we? First it's that volunteer, Silas Fields, with a score of nine!"

A nine put Silas on a match with the Careers. He nodded.

"Next it's Maizie Miller with a score of six!"

Earp had only got a five, so she outscored him there. Now she just had to outlive him.

 **District Ten**

Colby had been locked in his room with two peacekeepers at the door. He had smashed his bed and desk. His and Sierra's pictures appeared on the screen.

"Now, District Ten has been causing a bit of a stir all round this year. First up we've got Colby Marshall with a score of ten!"

Sierra sat with Gwen and Rusty in on the sofa. She shuddered.

"And Sierra Prime with a score of two!"

Gwen shook her head. Sierra burst into tears.

 **District Eleven**

Zinnia and Oliver were waiting together on their sofa. Oliver was jittery, sure he'd messed up. Zinnia was calmer.

"That boy…"

"I know."

"Next up is Oliver Farmer of District Eleven with a score of four!"

Oliver sighed.

"And Zinnia Kane of District Eleven with a score of seven!"

"Well done," Oliver said. Zinnia smiled.

"Your score is fine. There's been Victors who scored a four."

"Not many."

 **District Twelve**

Both Briar and Ash were in their separate rooms. Ash dried his hair off and sat on the end of the bed.

"Last but not least we've got District Twelve!"

His and Briar's pictures appeared.

"Ash Coleman with a score of five!"

Five was good. Five was average.

"Briar Flint with a score of… oh, wait for it, eight!"

She hadn't expected that. Tributes like her usually got a five or six. The Gamemakers must have been impressed with her archery.

"That's it folks, the scores for the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games! Tune in tonight for the interviews with all the tributes!"

* * *

 **Author's Notes**

For those wondering, here's the full listing of all the tribute scores:

Lucian Prince: 8

Diamond Blush: 9

Maximus Darkstone: 10

Valkyrie Slate: 9

Gadge Bishop: 4

Data Huxley: 1

Orion Achoda: 11

Astoria Achoda: 9

Isaac Watt: 5

Electra Balfos: 5

Logan Ford: 2

Kara Transson: 11

Tupelo Barker: 8

Willow Green: 7

Tyla Calico: 8

Calico Weaver: 5

Silas Fields: 9

Maizie Miller: 6

Colby Marshall: 10

Sierra Prime: 2

Zinnia Kane: 7

Oliver Farmer: 4

Ash Coleman: 5

Briar Flint: 8

What do you think? Any surprises there? Or is it all fairly predictable?

Big thank you to Hopps and The Amazing Jaj for your reviews! I am taking notes of thoughts and opinions, so if you do have a theory or an idea of a trope/stereotype you want to see, let me know!


	18. Interview Prep

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

Tupelo stared as Willow walked in the heels back and forth across the room.

"You look amazing."

She smiled. "I think I might die of nerves."

"It'd be a tragedy for the world to lose such beauty."

Willow blushed scarlet. "That's terrible!"

"Was it that bad?"

"Yes!"

They both laughed. She walked over to him. Tupelo had never seen anything more beautiful. "I hope your father and Alder Collins are watching and see what they've lost."

"I know exactly what they've lost." She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I wish I'd met you sooner. You know, when we weren't in a fight to the death," Tupelo said. Willow grinned.

"I'd have been happy to marry you."

"Do you mean that?"

"Absolutely." She kissed him. It was clumsy and sloppy, and the kiss he returned was probably worse, but it felt perfect. He wrapped his hand in her scarlet hair and pulled her up. She squeezed him tight and then pulled away.

"I wish I'd met you sooner too."

He led her into his bedroom and tossed her down on his bed. She giggled and pulled him down on top of her.

They were stopped by Itis, who made a noise of annoyance. "You two are supposed to be preparing for the interviews!"

Willow rolled over. "We are preparing for the interviews. I've just found my angle." She grinned at Tupelo. He grinned back.

"I think I love you."

"I think I love you too."

Hazel met them in the common room. "First things first, are you doing this for the cameras or for real?" asked Hazel. Tupelo gave Willow a soppy smile.

"For real."

"In that case, do not let it drag you down in the arena. I've got two good tributes this year, I don't want to lose them both because they think they're in love. Secondly, play this for everything you can on that stage. You, do googly eyes and talk about how strong and handsome he is. You, talk about how much you love her and how you'd give her the moon and the stars. Sell it."

Tupelo sighed. He just wanted to kiss Willow some more. He understood now how his older sister Juniper must have felt when she met her now husband.

"And whatever you do, remember that once you're in that arena, only one of you is coming out. I don't care which one it is, so long as it's one of you. That means one of you is going to have to die. Remember that."

Tupelo was glad to be dragged away by his stylist.

 **District One Male, Lucian Prince (18)**

Part of the academy training had included interview prep, although he'd never done it in front of such a big audience before. Just imagine all the people that would be looking at him! He was sure they would love his gorgeous face and smooth talking.

Then tomorrow…

Tomorrow was the start of the Games, and he'd have to turn himself into a killer. He was sure they would clap when Maximus killed him in a week's time.

The avox in the corner offered him a tray of drinks. Lucian thought for a moment and then took a blue one and sipped it as he stared at himself in the mirror. Maximus had asked him to help protect Valkyrie, that twelve year old she-demon. By her score in training she didn't need protecting. She got higher than him!

He ran a hand through his perfect hair. Part of him wished he had joined that outer District alliance with the Nine boy. The Careers were usually a stable group until they ripped each other apart, but this year they were at each other's throats already. Diamond hated Maximus and Valkyrie and seemed to be jealous of Astoria, Maximus hated Diamond, Valkyrie was only twelve, and the twins' only concern was each other.

Maybe when he won he could make a difference. Force the Capitol to see that they were human. All the kids from the other Districts, they were human just like him. The Hunger Games were an abomination. All his life he had been taught how honourable they were, but he was just being marched to his death.

 **District Eleven Male, Oliver Farmer (14)**

The talk shows were full of talk about the high and low scoring tributes and the interviews tonight. His name only came up a few times.

"You would be best to play to their sense of sympathy," Dawn told him. Oliver nodded.

"Tell them about your family. Cry. Make them feel sorry for you."

"I don't really like talking about it."

"You're going to have to."

"My family isn't a form of entertainment."

"You're going into the Hunger Games, everything is a form of entertainment!"

"Fine. What do you what me to say?"

He left with a sheet of paper and a speech to memorise. Zinnia was walking back and forth in a pair of high purple heels that made her legs look much longer. "I can see you staring."

Oliver wet his lips. "Sorry."

That didn't stop him staring. "You look good in those."

"You look better with your mouth closed." She tripped. Oliver tried to catch her arm to steady her, but they both fell, and he ended up on top of her with his hands on her breasts. He blushed scarlet.

"I-I-I-I."

Zinnia huffed and pushed him off. "Moron."

 **District Eight Male, Calico Weaver (15)**

He felt sick and had already thrown up twice. At least during the tribute parade he didn't need to do anything other than stand there and get humiliated. This time he would have to talk live to the nation about his upcoming death.

Calico lay on his bed and bawled.

Why him? Why did it have to be him? Why not someone else?

He wondered when he would die. Probably in the bloodbath, so he would never get to even see the rest of the arena. There had been some odd ones recently. Last year it was a neighbourhood of identical houses and the year before that absolutely everything had been the colour red. The tributes had started going crazy by day three.

Junia appeared by his bed. "Time to get up! It's prep time! Oh, don't be crying again!"

"Crying? Why shouldn't I cry? You've sentenced me to death you- you oversized puppy dog!"

Junia gasped and clasped her hand to her heart. "Oh, how could you insult me so! I must go and recover!"

His stylist, a man with hot pink hair and a tail, came in five minutes later. "Get up. We have work to do."

"Leave me alone."

He was dragged through to the dressing room by a pair of peacekeepers, where his stylist scrubbed his face and painted it with makeup.

"This is what you will be wearing. I suggest you stop feeling sorry for yourself and start doing something useful."

"Will it save my life?"

"It might do. I can tell you one thing that won't though, and that's sitting there feeling sorry for yourself. Chin up!"

Maybe Tyla was right and more kids should prepare for the Games. At least then they would have a shot.

 **District Two Female, Valkyrie Slate (12)**

V was walking on air. A nine in training! That put her above Lucian and on equal ground with both Diamond and Astoria! She wasn't sure if any twelve year old had ever had such a high score. She could be making history! She might be one of the youngest, but she'd beaten most of the older tributes.

"You should have scored lower. It's going to put a target on your back in the arena, being so small with such a high score," fretted Max. V giggled.

"Would you stop worrying? You're not my father! And hasn't doesn't that score prove I can look after myself?"

"Which is exactly why people like that boy from Nine and the girl from Eight will target you."

V rolled her eyes.

"You can't deny the fact you're only small and half-trained V. I think you should stay inside the cornucopia during the bloodbath."

"What, and miss all the fun?"

"You would be staying safe. You can secure all the supplies."

V huffed. Belladonna entered the room. "Valkyrie, Grayson and Jeana want to see you."

"Right. See you later Max."

Jeana and Grayson were in the games room.

"Did you do any of the interview prep at the academy?" Jeana asked.

"No. I didn't get to that point."

"Never mind. Just be you," said Grayson.

Belladonna waved a pair of shoes at her. "Have you ever walked in heels?"

"No."

The twins glared at her. "No heels!"

"Oh but her outfit-"

"No heels!"

"… I'll let Aelia know."

V frowned. "Why no heels?"

"You be you kiddo," said Grayson. Jeana grinned, showing off her teeth.

"No heels. Be fierce!"

V grinned back. "Any other tips?"

"Keep your head up, smile."

"You're little, not weak. Let them know that."

They pushed her out the door. "Send Maximus in."

Max was sat by the window with Jasper. V let him know to go in. Her stylist, Aelia, dragged her into her dressing room. "Belladonna says you don't want heels! Why not?"

V shrugged. "Jeana and Grayson don't want me to wear heels."

Aelia rolled her eyes. "And all must give way to their demands of course."

"I've never walked in heels before."

"I'll see what I can do."

 **District Six Male, Logan Ford**

This was it, his big chance to shine and show everyone how great he was. Finally everyone would see his amazingness. He was fairly sure they had scored him so low just to spite him, especially since Kara, who was the worst, got an eleven. An eleven! Her! How dare she?

"You need to show them your best side. Talk about your family and friends back home, who you have waiting. Who's there?" asked his stylist.

"My father is a very important man. He's the best." Logan smiled. "I know he'll give me plenty of support in the arena."

"Good, good. Be sure to talk about that."

"There's a girl as well. Demica."

"Ah, now you make a lot of that. I'm sure you'll have them eating out of your hand."

They would love him! He was the best! Logan pictured his name up there in lights and smiled.

 **District Three Male, Gadge Bishop (12)**

Gadge blinked as his stylist stuck the stick too close to his eye. The blue makeup smeared up his face. His stylist clucked and grabbed a wipe. "How hard can it be to keep your eyes open?"

Gadge blinked. They tried again. He blinked again.

At last his stylist managed to paint the blue stuff around his eyes like she wanted to. She also highlighted his lips and cheeks. "You look like an intellectual. That will be your angle."

"Yes," Gadge said, trying not to nod and smudge the makeup.

"Good." She passed him the black jacket that went with his outfit. He pulled it on and she straightened it out.

"Perfect."

Data's prep took longer, and he found himself sitting alone with Jillian and Binary, District Three's only living Victors. Jillian poured them both whiskey and then looked at him. "You want some kid?"

"Shouldn't we be talking about what to do during my interview?"

She shrugged. "Look cute. Act clever. They'll love it. You want some or not?"

"Sure, why not?"

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda (18)**

Once again their stylists, Jynx and Magnus, had done an amazing job. Astoria could never have made herself look this good back in District Four. She spun round in front of the large mirror between the dressing rooms, watching her dress and hair glitter in the light.

"You look incredible," Orion said. Astoria looked him over.

"Not too bad yourself brother-mine."

Sagittarius flapped around them. "Oh, you two look wonderful! They're going to love you! Now, do you both know your angles? What you're going to say?"

"Yes," they said as one. Sagittarius made that annoying laugh.

"Such a shame we can't get you both on stage at once! They would love you doing that!"

"Such a shame," Astoria agreed dryly. She was pretty sure Sagitarrius saw her and Orion as one person. Truthfully she might have felt more comfortable with her brother on stage with her, she couldn't remember not having him performing with her. Orion squeezed her hand.

"You'll do fantastically."

 **District Nine Male, Silas Fields (18)**

His interview outfit was simple but strong, defining him in all the right places.

"Remember, smile and laugh in all the right places. Tell them enough to satisfy them but leave enough out to keep them guessing," Barry said, as if he hadn't had it drilled into him since he was eleven years old. Maizie at long last appeared from her dressing room. Julius pushed her across the room to the door. "Come come then. You both look wonderful! We're sure to get more sponsors than Junia!"

Silas still hadn't worked out what angle he and Junia were playing this year, but it mostly seemed to involve trying to one up each other. He followed the escort down to the lift, Maizie trembling at his side. It was time Panem stopped seeing District Nine tributes as being like her.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

This isn't the best of chapters, but never mind. Updates will probably be slowing down a bit from this point on, but we'll see how I go.

Big thank you to Hopps and TheAmazingJAJ for your reviews. Also, shoutout to Dreamer, who guessed the lovers trope/angle between Tupelo and Willow way, way back in the Parade Prep chapter.

As you can probably all guess, next up is the interviews, so stay tuned for that!


	19. Interviews Part One

**Author's Note**

I do not own The Hunger Games.

* * *

Felicity studied herself in the mirror, patting her hair and fluffing out her dress. Fantasio stuck his head around the door. "They're ready for you on stage Felicity."

Felicity followed her out, down the long corridor and onto the stage. Behind the holoscreen came the noise from the crowd. Felicity smoothed out her puffed blue dress, sat on her chair, and straightened out her ruffled skirts again.

"Alright Felicity, you're live in three. Two. One."

The holoscreen dropped. The stadium was packed and the applause was deafening.

"Good evening folks!" Felicity shouted over the noise. The lights over the audience began to dim, the spotlights focusing on her.

"Welcome to the interviews for the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games! I'm Felicity Fierce, your host for tonight!"

The applause began to quieten.

"But of course, you're not here to see me! We're all here to see our twenty four wonderful tributes!"

On the screen behind her appeared images from the reaping, cycling through the District's from lowest to highest.

"In a few short minutes, we'll get to see all of them and learn a bit more about them and their lives in our beloved Districts! All the tributes will have five minutes to tell us about themselves and maybe even what they think of our beautiful Capitol! But first we've got a short video of what they've been up to during their time spent training here in the Capitol!"

All the remaining lights dimmed. An image of the tributes stood as a group in the training hall appeared on screen. These were only the highlights of course, similar clips and images had been broadcast throughout training showing the alliances and relationships between the tributes. On screen, still images and short clips from the most popular parts of training played out. It ended with the seal of Panem and the lights faded back on. The audience screamed with applause.

"Without further ado then folks, let's meet our tributes! First, from the beautiful halls of District One, it's Diamond Blush!"

Diamond's stylist had gone with the 'diamond' angle again, sprinkling her skin and hair with silver glitter. She wore a tight, floor length, low cut silver dress with a long slit up her left leg, elbow length white gloves and tall white heels. Her platinum blonde hair was twisted into a crown on the back of her head. She walked confidently across the stage and sat opposite Felicity.

"Diamond, it's good to see you! You look lovely."

Diamond giggled and shook her hand. "Thank you Felicity. You look wonderful yourself."

"Oh, why thank you. So tell me Diamond, because I'm sure everyone's dying to know... What is your relationship with your sister Tiara like?"

"It's a little rocky Felicity. Tiara doesn't support my decision to volunteer. I think she's afraid I'll outshine her." She gave the crowd a winning smile.

"Do you think she's jealous then?"

"I do. Tiara's always hated the fact that I'm better and more talented than her."

Felicity opened her mouth to say that Tiara was already a Victor and not Diamond.

"Don't say it," hissed her comm.

"I'm sure we'll see that in the arena. What about your family back home? What do they think of it?"

"My little brother Platinum is rooting for me. My parents weren't too happy though."

"Why is that?"

"I think they're just worried for me."

"Aww, bless."

The audience 'aww'd.

"How have you been finding your time in the Capitol?"

"I'm loving it Felicity. It's beautiful. When I'm a Victor I'd love to see more of it."

"Now, we've all seen your training and allies. There's been a bit of a power struggle between you and Maximus, hasn't there?"

"There was at the start, but I think we're all in agreement now."

"So who's going to lead the alliance?"

Diamond giggled. "Me, of course!"

"Thirty seconds Felicity," said her comm.

"What's been your favourite part of your time in the Capitol so far?" she asked.

"I would definitely say the makeup. The stylists here can do things we don't get in District One."

The buzzer dinged.

"It looks like our time is up! It's been nice talking to you Diamond, and good luck in the Games."

The audience screamed their approval as she sashayed her way from the stage.

"Now then next up it's Diamond's District partner from the beautiful lands of District One, Lucian Prince!"

Lucian's stylist had matched Diamond and their chariot costumes. He wore a gold shirt with black trousers and shoes, and his skin had been dusted with golden glitter. His hair was gelled away from his face. The applause for him was slightly less.

"Lucian, it's nice to meet you! Looking sharp in that shirt!"

He kissed her hand. "Thank you Felicity. Do you see something you like?"

"I think everyone sees something they like Lucian! A boy as good looking as you must have a girlfriend waiting back home, right?"

Lucian's smile lessened. "I'm afraid not."

"What, no special someone? There must be someone you like though."

"Oh, there are plenty of people I like." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. "There is one person I like more than most though." He stared into the central camera. "He's... strong, and brave, and the worst dancer I've ever seen, but I don't mind."

"Oh I see. And does this special someone know how you feel?"

"I don't think so. We've been best friends for years, but I just can't say it to him."

"Well, I think he knows now! I'm sure you'll have something special waiting for you back home now! What about your family, what are they like?"

"My parents are pretty strict. I'm only here because of them though. When they found out I was training, they knew I had to be the best. And I have three younger sisters, Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald."

"That must get crazy, being the only boy in a houseful of girls!"

"Yeah, that can be pretty rough. Ruby and I are pretty close though. Talk a lot about crushes."

'Aww's ran through the audience.

"You must miss them a lot."

"I do Felicity. I'm sure I'll be home soon though."

"I'm sure you will! Tell me though, how have you found your time here in the Capitol?"

"It's been a lot of fun. When I come back I'll have to try the clubs!"

Felicity laughed. "We do have some great clubs."

"One minute Felicity," came Fantasio's voice.

"Well Lucian, it's been lovely meeting you, but we're almost out of time. How about you tell me before you go what your favourite part of your time here in the Capitol has been?"

"Unlike the Princess, I don't need makeup to make me look good. My favourite part has to have been the hot men."

The buzzer dinged.

"That's our time up Lucian! But I'm sure your special someone and all those hot men will be waiting for you when you come back! Lucian Prince everybody!"

He left the stage to join Diamond on the balcony. The two of them made a striking pair.

"Up next is our little wild thing from the rocky mountains of District Two, it's Valkyrie Slate!"

Valkyrie leapt out onto stage, wearing knee high navy blue boots, a knee length sleeveless dress with a silver top and navy skirt, and navy fingerless gloves with silver studs on the knuckles. Her makeup was minimal and her hair had been plaited and pinned into a bun. She got more applause than both Lucian and Diamond. Someone in the audience shouted 'you slay girl!' Valkyrie bared her teeth and growled out at the audience before throwing herself into her chair. Felicity held her hand out for a handshake.

"Valkyrie, it's good to have you here!"

She growled and snapped her teeth at her hand. Felicity pulled it back. "You're the youngest tribute from Two in over a century! I think we all want to know how you feel about that, don't we folks?"

"I might be little, but I'm better than all the older girls! That's why I'm here and they're not!" She hissed at the audience. Felicity's smile wavered.

"Yes, and you got a nine in training! That's the highest score for a twelve year old tribute in history! Would you like to tell us how you impressed the Gamemakers for that score?"

Valkyrie shook her head.

"Not even a little hint?"

Valkyrie shook her head again. This was worse than trying to interview Grayson and Jeana.

"We'll have to wait and see for that then won't we folks? Valkyrie, why don't you tell us who you've got cheering for you back home?"

"My parents, and my sister Atalanta. She's really sick with something the doctors can't fix, so I'm here to win for the both of us."

"Oh I see! You must love her very much then."

"More than I think she knows. We fight a lot as well."

"Well, I'm sure she knows now! What about your parents?"

Valkyrie looked at the floor. "They spend a lot of time with Atalanta. I mean, I'm sure they still love me, but she takes up most of their time. She needs things to be kept quiet for her, so my parents let me go unsupervised a lot."

A few people in the audience 'aww'd.

"That explains why you're such a wild little thing! What do you like to do when your parents aren't keeping an eye on you then?"

Valkyrie laughed. "Well, I attend the Blastburn academy for combat training, because I've always wanted to be a peacekeeper when I grow up so that I can look after my family."

"Oh I see! You must miss them very much."

"I'm worried that something might happen to Atalanta while I'm away."

"I'm sure your parents will take good care of her, won't they folks?"

A round of agreement came from the audience.

"Forty seconds Felicity."

"I'm afraid we're almost out of time, but before you go, why don't you tell us what your favourite thing in the Capitol has been?"

"The parade!"

Felicity laughed. "You certainly looked like you enjoyed it out there!"

The buzzer went off.

"It's been nice meeting you Valkyrie. Good luck tomorrow!"

"Thank you!"

She bounded away to her seat on the balcony.

"Next up is our second legacy this year, it's Maximus Darkstone!"

Maximus strode out in a navy blue suit and white shirt that showed off his muscles. He smiled out at the audience and sat in the guest chair.

"Maximus, it's nice to meet you at last! Everyone here in the Capitol has been waiting for you to volunteer!"

He smiled. "Thank you Felicity. My family and I believed it would be best for me to wait until I was eighteen, so I'm the best I can be."

Several women in the audience screamed. One lifted her top to show off her breasts. Maximus blushed.

"Of course, we've all seen your friendship with Valkyrie over the past few days. What is your relationship with her?"

Maximus looked up at Valkyrie on the balcony. "We don't have one. I didn't meet her until the reaping. But she's a good kid."

"That's interesting, there were a lot of theories about you two! What about your relationship with Diamond?"

"What relationship?" he growled.

"You two have had some issues within the alliance, haven't you?"

"There have been a few difficulties, yes Felicity. I think she's just jealous over my closeness with V- Valkyrie and the fact I'll be leading the pack."

Clearly these two weren't over their issues.

"We heard earlier tonight that Diamond thought she would be leading the pack! What do you think to that Maximus?"

"Rubbish. I'll be leading the Career pack Felicity." He glared up at the balcony. "There's a lot of strong competitors this year, the Careers need a strong leader to compete. Diamond's not strong enough."

"Do you think we could be seeing some threats from the outer District tributes this year then Maximus?"

"Absolutely Felicity. We'll have to be careful this year. It'll probably be harder than Jasper's."

"Jasper of course is a former Victor, along with your older siblings Grayson and Jeana, your parents, and your grandfather. What's your relationship like with your family?"

"Well Felicity, you can probably guess my parents are pretty strict on me. They want me to live up to the family legacy pretty bad. Jasper and I get along alright, he's a pretty quiet guy really and likes his own space. I don't get along great with Grayson and Jeana, but really I don't think they like anyone."

Felicity could believe that. "It must have been difficult growing up with such a legacy to follow."

Maximus laughed. "Yeah, our family's pretty well known. I mean, even you here in the Capitol know us!" He flexed his muscles. The audience screamed approval.

"We certainly do! Are you ready to follow in their footsteps then Maximus?"

"I am Felicity."

"We're glad to hear that, aren't we folks? So, what are you looking forward to most when you come back to the Capitol?"

"Trying some more of your delicious food!"

That earned him a few laughs before the buzzer went off.

"Well, that's all the time we have I'm afraid Maximus. Good luck tomorrow."

"Thank you Felicity. A pleasure talking to you." He left to join Valkyrie on the balcony.

"Next up from the technology hub of Panem, it's our expecting mother to be, Data Huxley everyone!"

Data came out wearing what looked like a cross between a ballgown and a wedding dress, pale lilac with a massive skirt and a lacy top, all decorated with pale pink flowers. She waddled out to the guest chair.

"Data, you look radiant! Doesn't she look wonderful folks?"

The audience clapped their agreement.

"How are you?" Felicity asked.

"Sickly. I don't think Little One likes all this that I'm going through."

"Oh, I am sorry. We were all just horrified when we saw you at the reaping. Do you know what you're having?"

"No. Ultrasounds are expensive."

"Oh I see. So who there waiting for you and the baby back home?"

"My Fiancé, Sean."

"Ah, so you've got a special man waiting for you! What's he like then, your Sean?"

"He's the strongest and most loving person I've ever met. I love him more than anything."

"I'm sure he knows it, aren't we folks?"

They clapped politely.

"I hope he finds someone else, after I die, to spend his life with," Data said.

"Oh, but there's nothing to say you will die yet! You have every chance of becoming Victor, doesn't she folks?"

Data laughed. "Like this?" She indicated her stomach. "I don't think so. And I want Sean to be happy. I don't want him to be alone."

"Well, you've got a good alliance, haven't you? Why don't you tell us a little about that?"

"There's not much to tell. Zinnia and Oliver wanted Gadge, my District partner. He's a genius kid. He wouldn't join them without me, so there you have it."

"And how do you find your allies?"

Data shrugged. "They're fine. We get along fine. Bit more stable than the Careers."

Laughter ran round the audience.

"And how have you found your stay in the Capitol?"

"I'd rather have stayed home."

The buzzer went off, which was a bit of a relief.

"Well, that's all our time! Data Huxley everyone!"

Data smiled and shuffled away to her seat.

"Next up is the boy Data described as a genius, it's Gadge Bishop!"

Gadge stumbled out onto the stage wearing a black suit and promptly fell flat on his face. He tried to stand, tripped over his own feet, and fell again. An assistant ran out to help him up and lead him over to the guest chair.

"Gadge, it's good to see you! You look very smart!"

"Thank you," he slurred. He stank of alcohol. How young did they start drinking in the Districts?

"Now, we've just heard Data call you a genius. How do you feel about that?"

He grinned sloppily at the balcony. "Data's great."

"You two get along then?"

"Yeah."

"What about the rest of your alliance? Data said it was you they really wanted."

"They're great too."

"Just great?"

"Yeah."

"That's good to hear, isn't it folks? Now, what about your family back home?"

"I got… a little brother. Sierra's a bit like the girl version of him. All… preppy and bubbly. Mum and dad… we don't see much of them."

"Oh, well that's a shame. Everyone should see their parents. What about your friends? Or a partner? A cute boy like you must have someone waiting."

Gadge blushed. "I don't have anyone like that."

"But you must have plenty of offers!"

"No… I'm too busy with work. I help some of the engineers. I'm good with… with numbers."

"One minute Felicity."

"Why don't you tell us Gadge, what's been your favourite part of staying here in the Capitol?"

"All the technology!"

The buzzer went off then.

"Gadge Bishop everyone!"

The applause was minimal. Gadge staggered off stage. Data stood to help him to his seat.

"Now, next up all the way from the wild waves of District Four, it's the first of our sparkling twins! Astoria Achoda everyone!"

Astoria glided out onto stage. She looked even more beautiful in person, her skin painted a lighter colour than during the parade, a soft, shimmering silvery blue. Her dark hair hung loose in glossy waves to her waist. Her dress was strapless and dangerously low cut, with a glittery silver top and black mini skirt with a longer, netted black skirt that only covered her sides and back and swirled around her. The applause for her was deafening. She spun around in the centre of the stage, her skin glittering under the stage lights, and performed several modified dance moves before draping herself over the guest chair.

"Wow Astoria, what an entrance! Where did you learn that?"

She smiled seductively. "That one will have to be our little secret Felicity."

"You look incredible. How do you feel?"

"Like a goddess." She ran a hand down her leg to smooth out the fabric of her longer skirt. "I love the clothes here."

"They suit you, don't they folks?"

The audience screamed. One woman shouted 'you go queen!'

"You and Orion were incredible during the parade."

Astoria ran a hand through her hair. "We're always incredible."

"You and your brother get along well then?"

Astoria giggled. "We're not even used to being apart. I've been thinking that me being reaped alongside him must be fate."

"How does it feel to be going into the arena alongside him?"

"It's scary, but it feels good to know I have someone to rely on. I know Orion will look out for me."

"You are aiming to stay together then?"

"We always stay together."

"And who have the two of you got waiting at home?"

"Our siblings. We have four sisters and two brothers back home. Our father's alive, but we don't talk to him anymore."

"Is there any reason for that?"

"We don't like him. We don't talk about him."

"What about a partner? Is there a special someone back there for you?"

"No, I like to stay unattached."

"Forty seconds Felicity."

"Well, we don't have much time left Astoria, but is there anything else you want to say?"

"This won't be the last time you see me Felicity, you can ask me more questions then." She stood and performed another spin in the centre stage before the buzzer went off. Felicity watched her walk off stage.

"Next up it's Astoria's brother Orion Achoda!"

Orion had been dressed to match Astoria, his skin painted shimmering silver blue, and wearing a sparkling silver shirt and glittering black trousers. His hair fell loose around his face. The applause for him matched that for his sister. He too performed a dance routine before sitting down.

"Orion, it's good to see you! Are you willing to tell us anything of where you learnt that?"

"That's a secret between me and my sister Felicity."

"Well I must say we're all gutted! We would all love to perform like that!"

He smiled. "Thank you."

"You look as incredible as Astoria! How do you feel?"

"Like a god."

"Your sister Astoria told us you two get along well. How do you feel about that?"

Orion laughed. "We've always been close, we're not used to being apart."

"How do you feel about entering the arena with her?"

"I hate that she was reaped with me, but anyone who tries to hurt her will regret it."

"Ooh, show us that fire! You think you'll be able to stay together then?"

"Always."

"Now, Astoria told us you don't talk to your father any more. Do you want to tell us anything about that?"

"He's a liar. He's a traitor. We don't like him. We don't talk about him."

"Very mysterious isn't it folks. So is there a special someone back there for you?"

"No, I like to stay unattached."

"One minute Felicity."

"We're almost out of time Orion, but why don't you tell us what you've most enjoyed about your time in the Capitol?"

"The showers."

That earned him some laughs. He stood and performed a spin and then bowed low before leaving to join Astoria.

"Orion and Astoria Achoda everyone! Aren't they incredible?"

The crowd shouted their approval.

"Now, before we move onto District Five, we have a short break! Please feel free to visit the toilets, refill your food and drink, and enjoy a performance from one of our most popular artists and we'll return to go to District Five shortly!"

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Here's the start of the interviews! Currently the plan is for all the interview chapters to be posted this week, because they get a bit same-y after a while so I want them all up fairly close together. After that I'll move to weekly updates, although of course it depends how I get on and what's going on in my life. I will be closing the favourites poll once the interviews are over though, so if you want to vote on that, get your votes in now!

Big thank you to SongofFete and Hopps for your reviews and to Angel9505 for the follow!


	20. Interviews Part Two

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

Felicity took a drink and stretched her legs during the break. On the holoscreen a commercial advertising the stylists for the Games was playing, with images of the twins from Four being very predominant. Felicity somehow doubted anyone else could look like that if they tried. It was a true shame the two had been reaped for the Games: they could have made for incredible performers here in the Capitol. Tallulah came out to fix her hair and straighten out her dress. The commercial switched to one advertising dolls of the twenty four tributes.

"We're on in sixty seconds Felicity."

She took her seat and the holoscreen lifted.

"Welcome back folks, to the interviews for the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games! First up from the power hub of Panem, it's Electra Balfos!"

Electra crept out onto stage, her head bowed. She wore a knee length black dress with straps that fell over her shoulders and a belt of black flowers. Her orange hair was pinned up in a bun. She sat in the guest chair.

"Electra, welcome! You look stunning!"

"You look nice too," Electra whispered.

"Thank you! Tell me, are you enjoying your time here in the Capitol?"

She nodded.

"What have you enjoyed most?"

"The food."

"Do you have a favourite food?"

"Hot chocolate."

"Yes, that is a sugary treat. I prefer chocolate buns myself. So, life here must be different to back home. What's it like there?"

"Busy."

"In what way?"

"School. Work."

"What about your family? Who do you have back there?"

"Mother works as a representative and aide at the main power plant. I don't see her very much. But she likes to bring us chocolate cookies on a Friday."

"I'm seeing a theme! I think someone has a sweet tooth folks! And who's we?"

"Me and my little sister Lexie. She's thirteen."

"Are you close?"

"Not really. We fight a lot."

"What about your father?"

"He's a peacekeeper. He works long hours to protect District Five. I know he'll be proud of me."

"I'm sure he is. What about you folks?"

The audience clapped.

"You must miss home a lot."

"I do."

"One minute Felicity."

"Before we run out of time, is there anything else you'd like to say?"

Electra shook her head.

"Nothing at all? No hints for the arena?"

Electra smiled. "You haven't seen the last of me."

The buzzer went off.

"Electra Balfos everyone!"

Electra tiptoed away to her seat.

"Next up from the powerhouse District, it's Isaac Watt!"

Isaac was wearing a white shirt with black trousers and waistcoat. He grinned and waved out at the audience, Electra's direct opposite, and walked confidently over to the guest chair.

"Isaac, Isaac, don't you look dashing?"

"Thank you Felicity. You look beautiful yourself." He grinned at the crowd. "And everyone here looks wonderful." He pointed. "I especially like the big hat you're wearing on the right there ma'am. The one with the blue feathers."

The woman shouted 'thank you darling!'

"Are you enjoying the Capitol then Isaac?"

"Yes!" he shouted, to whoops and cheers.

"What's your favourite part?"

"Everything!"

"Oh now that's not fair! Why don't you tell us some of the things you've enjoyed?"

"Well, I like all my new friends and allies. I like Calico the best, but everyone else is cool too!"

"And what makes Calico the best?"

Isaac shrugged. "I just know him better. We only just joined Zinnia and the others."

"Ah, that makes sense. Now, we know your mother is the Mayor of Five, so why don't you tell us a little about what that's like?"

"There's not much to tell really. Mum's a great Mayor, and she's done a lot for the people of Five, but it means she's at work a lot. When I was little, I got to sit in her office with her, but I'm not allowed to do that now."

"What about your father?"

"He died when I was little."

"Oh, I see. I know you don't have any siblings, but what about friends? Or even someone special back there waiting for you?"

Isaac blushed. "There is one person."

"And who's that then?"

"My best friend, Anna. She's brave, and daring, and she likes to do practical jokes a lot. And when she said goodbye, she kissed me."

"Ooh. Did you kiss her back?"

"I didn't. I didn't really know what to do."

'Aww's ran through the audience.

"But I'm hoping I'll get back to her, and then I can kiss her more. She means a lot to me."

The buzzer went off.

"Well Isaac, it looks like we're out of time. But we've had a blast with you tonight, haven't we ladies and gentlemen?"

The crowd screamed. Isaac was popular. He grinned and waved as he returned to the balcony.

"Now then, next up from the District of transportation, it's Kara Transson!"

Kara wore a strapless thigh length red dress with a long red cape flying around her. Her hair had been plaited and pinned around her head. She stomped out onto stage glaring at the floor and sat in the guest chair.

"Kara, it's good to see you!"

Kara grunted.

"Might I say, you look stunning tonight! Doesn't she ladies and gentlemen?"

The crowd applauded. Kara grunted again.

"I especially like the cape, that's a nice touch."

Kara scowled more.

"So tell us, how have you found your time here in the Capitol?"

"Terrible."

"Oh, well that's not good. Tell me, what don't you like about it?"

"Everything. Especially you."

Felicity clutched her chest. "You don't like me? Why ever not? What have I ever done to you?"

"Existed."

"Oh, it's not personal then."

Kara narrowed her eyes. "It's very personal. Fuck you."

Felicity giggled nervously. "Well, why don't you tell us about your home then? If you don't like it here, it must be great there, right ladies and gentlemen?"

"Not really. Most of it's a burnt out shell since you morons never gave us the money to rebuild after the fire."

"Oh, well that is bad to hear. Maybe when you win you can loan them some cash to replace the buildings, right folks?"

"Nah. I'll be spending it on petrol and lighters."

"Whatever for?"

"So I can finish the damn job."

Felicity blinked. "Oh. Right. Well, what about your family back there? Who's waiting for you at home?"

"My brothers and sisters."

"Really? How many do you have?"

Kara smiled. It was not a nice smile. "Fifty."

Felicity was no longer smiling. "Fifty? Really. Wow, there's a big family for you folks. Your parents were certainly busy!"

There were a few laughs from the audience.

"How do you remember all the names?"

"I don't."

"Oh, well that's one way of doing it I suppose. And I guess with a family that size you won't have much time for friends."

"I don't have any friends. I hate everyone in equal measure."

"Ooh. Is that a hint for the arena?"

Kara stood. "I'll give you a hint freely. I'm going to kill them all." She walked off a minute before the buzzer was due to sound.

"Well, how about that folks? It looks like we've got a real wild card in the form of Kara Transson!"

She didn't have a very likeable personality though.

"Next up from District Six it's Logan Ford!"

Logan was wearing a red suit, which clashed terribly with his green hair. He strutted out in large platform boots, which made him look five inches taller than his real height, and sat with his knees awkwardly close to Felicity's.

"Logan, it's good to see you! I must say that is a very daring fashion choice."

Logan gave her what he might think was a sexy smile. "Thank you. Red is one of my best colours."

"It certainly is! Now, we heard at your reaping that your father is important. Would you like to tell us what it is he does?"

Logan pushed his legs against hers. Felicity moved away.

"He owns three of the biggest factories in District Six, including the one that makes the big parts for hovercrafts. He's very important and super rich."

"Ah, is your father Paul Ford by any chance?"

"That's him!"

In the last three days Paul Ford's riches had been seriously depleted after discoveries of embezzlement and bribery. He was now looking at bankruptcy. It had been all over the news. Felicity was a little embarrassed she hadn't linked him to Logan before now, but Ford was a common surname in Six. They'd had seven tributes with that surname in the last ten years, with none of them being related.

"And how do you feel about the accusations against him?"

Logan frowned. "Accusations? What accusations? My father is a respectable man!" He grinned and shuffled closer to her. "Much like me."

Felicity slid away. "There are several reports of bribery and embezzlement of money that should have gone to benefactors in the Capitol. He's facing charges."

"That's all lies! I would have heard!"

Felicity wondered how he hadn't heard. It had been all over the news. Maybe the tributes only watched the talk shows in the tribute centre.

"Well, I'm certainly glad to hear that! Are you enjoying your time here in the Capitol?"

"Mostly, although the women are too stand offish." He grinned up at the balcony. "They don't know what they're missing." He laid a hand on Felicity's leg. It made her skin crawl.

"I'm sure you'll be more popular with the ladies when you have a Victor status," she said and pushed his hand off.

"Show a little more enthusiasm Felicity," hissed Fantasio through her earpiece. Felicity made a mental note to strangle him after the show.

"What are you most looking forward to when you come back?"

"There's a girl back home, Demica. I'd like to get with her again."

"Ooh, looks like this stud's already spoken for ladies and gentlemen! Well, isn't that a shame?"

It was a relief when the buzzer went off.

"Logan Ford everyone! What a charmer!"

Logan strutted off in his ridiculous boots to take his seat next to Kara. On the big screen showing the balcony Felicity saw him put his hand on her knee. She stood on his foot. Felicity might not like the girl, but good on her.

"Next up, from the land of trees, wilderness, and sexy, sexy lumberjacks, it's Willow Green!"

She got a great deal of applause. They didn't usually broadcast interview preparation to keep things secret, but cameras had caught her making out with her District partner earlier, and that had been broadcast to great popularity from the rest of the Capitol. She wore a floor length sleeveless pale pink dress with silvery flowers around the chest and a pale pink crown of flowers in her scarlet hair.

"Willow, Willow, it's nice to meet you!"

Willow smiled shyly. "It's nice to meet you too Felicity."

"Now, excuse me for being blunt, but we don't have much time so I'm just going to get right down to it."

"Oh, that's okay."

"We've all seen you grow close with all your allies, but you've always been close with your District partner in particular, haven't you?"

Willow giggled and blushed scarlet as the big screen projected a picture of her snogging Tupelo in the District Seven apartment. A few audience members whooped and cheered.

"Why don't you tell us a little about that? Did you know Tupelo before you came to the Capitol?"

Willow nodded.

"And what's the story behind that?"

"My father arranged for me to get married to a man called Alder Collins. I wasn't hot on that, so I started sneaking out, and one of those nights, I met Tupelo!"

"Oh, isn't that adorable folks? One to tell the grandkids!"

Willow sighed wistfully. "Unless Tupelo can win with me, I don't imagine I'll be having any grandchildren Felicity. I can't imagine ever loving anyone else."

"Well, that one will be down to the Gamemakers I'm afraid! Now, you told us a little about your father. What's your relationship with your family like?"

"Well, my mother died when I was little, but I can remember her having red hair like me. My father's very strict with us, he controls an awful lot. We don't get along very well."

"Oh, who's we?"

"Me, my sister, Dara, she's fifteen, and my brother, Oakley, he's thirteen."

"And do you get along well with your siblings?"

"I do Felicity. We're very close. Dara, she's a lot like me but with a temper, and I'm sorry for not telling you about Tupelo. And Oakland, he's very sweet and caring. He wants to be a nurse when he's older."

"What? Not a lumberjack?"

"No, he wants to be a nurse. He's had his heart set since he was six."

'Aww's ran through the audience.

"One minute Felicity."

"Now, we're almost out of time, but before you go why don't you tell us what you've enjoyed most about your stay in the Capitol?"

"Getting to spend more time with Tupelo."

The buzzer went off.

"It's been lovely talking to you Willow. Good luck with things tomorrow."

"Thank you."

"Willow Green everyone! And next up, it's her partner in crime and sexy tree, Tupelo Barker!"

Tupelo was wearing a smart green shirt with an axe pattern, black trousers and shoes. His hair had been gelled back. He strode out and flung himself into the guest chair.

"Tupelo, it's good to see you!"

"It's good to be here, thank you Felicity."

"Now, Tupelo, we've just heard from Willow, but would you like to talk about your relationship with her?"

Tupelo smiled and gazed up at her on the balcony with little heart shaped dots swimming in his eyes. "Willow is the most amazing person I've ever met. She's sweet, and she's caring, and she'd sell her soul to save yours if she had to. She volunteered for that little girl at the reaping out of the goodness of her own heart. I don't know what I've done in my life to deserve such an incredible woman."

The audience 'aw'd.

"Aw, Tupelo, I think Willow's very lucky to have you! Isn't she ladies and gentlemen?"

A round of agreement came from the audience. Tupelo blushed. "Well, thank y'all folks."

"What about your family back home? Did they know about Willow?"

"My family are all lumberjacks. My parents work pretty long hours, so they're pretty relaxed as parents go, and then I have an older sister, Juniper, and a younger brother, Pine. We all get along pretty well, but I never told them about Willow. They'd probably be all disapproving if they knew I was getting out at night."

Felicity laughed. "I'm sure they'd understand!"

"I hope so. Willow is the love of my life. She's the only woman I'll ever love. The time we've had here together in the Capitol has been the best in my life."

"We've all seen you and your allies, Tyla from Eight and Sylas from Nine. Can you tell us anything about that alliance?"

"We're pretty solid as an alliance. We're not really friends with either of them, but we know we can rely on them to have our backs. As stable alliances go I think we're in a better position than the Careers right now."

"Ooh, them's are fighting words!"

"They certainly are." Tupelo flexed his muscles. "This is a fighting body honey!"

On the balcony Willow leant forward and blew him a kiss.

"Silas is leading the alliance, and he's the man with the plan, but I'm pretty comfortable with time. My biggest concern is Willow."

"Well, it's been fun talking to you but we're almost out of time. Other than Willow, what have you enjoyed most about your time here in the Capitol?"

"Probably the climbing activities and the food."

He left to join Willow, and the two kissed before he sat down.

"Next up fabrics and costume, it's Tupelo and Willow's ally Tyla Calico!"

Tyla walked out wearing a floor length, high necked dress with a sky blue skirt and pale lilac top decorated with celtic designs. Her hair fell loose around her face, which had been highlighted with soft purple makeup to accent her eyes.

"Tyla, you look stunning in that dress!"

Tyla did a twirl that looked much less graceful than anything performed by Orion and Astoria. "Thank you!"

"How are you tonight?"

"I'm well, thank you Felicity." She flexed her own arms. "I'm ready."

"That's good to hear! You're certainly one of the stronger tributes this year. What do you do at home to be like that?"

"Well, I do a lot of running, and some amateur boxing. It keeps my fitness up."

"It certainly does! And who is there for you back home?"

"My mother and father, who work long hours. My younger brother Stitch, he's ten, bit of a brat. My aunt, Mary, she lives with us now since her daughter Velvet died in the Games a few years back."

"Oh now we didn't know that! Do you know where she came?"

"Seventh place."

"Now there's a shame! We could have had cousin Victors! What was your relationship like with her?"

Tyla shrugged. "Normal pretty much. We hung out sometimes, talked about boys."

Felicity laughed. "Sounds like you had a grand old time. Now, we heard a bit from Tupelo, but how do you feel about your alliance?"

"Confident Felicity. We've got a good thing going on and no weaklings to hold us back. Watch this spot, we'll go far!"

"We'll do that, won't we ladies and gentlemen? What about your relationship with your allies?"

Tyla shrugged. "What relationship? Silas is great, he's a good leader and fighter, and Willow and Tupelo are nice to have as backup, but they ain't my friends and never will be. Sorry guys."

A few laughs came from the audience.

"Fifty seconds Felicity."

"Well, we're almost out of time, but before you go, is there anything you'd like to say?"

Tyla grinned. "Watch out for us, because we are serious!"

"Good to hear! Nice to meet you Tyla!"

She left to take her seat.

"Next up it's the king of bold fashion choices, Calico Weaver!"

Calico's stylist had evidently taken notes from his reaping, as he was wearing a hot pink shirt and neon green trousers and shoes with a red velvet jacket and black waistcoat with a cape attached. It was a very bold fashion choice.

"Calico, you look… interesting."

Calico looked like he was about to cry.

"Why don't you sit down?"

He sat in the guest chair.

"I especially like the cape. Very interesting. Like a superhero."

Calico smiled weakly. "Yeah. Like a lame superhero."

"Oh, I don't know about that. I'm sure you'd be a great superhero! Who have you got to protect back home?"

"My mother and father, and my little brother, Satin."

"Why don't you tell us what your parents are like?"

"They work a lot at the factory. My mother taught me to swim though, when I was little."

"What about your brother?"

"Yeah, she taught him too."

"And what's he like?"

"Oh, he's cool. He's fine. We get along."

"That's good to hear. Tell you what, why don't you tell us a little about your alliance? We heard a little from Isaac that he likes you the best, but what do you have to say?"

"I like Isaac too, he's cool. We allied together first, and then we joined everyone else. Zinnia's leading really, she's got her head in the game. Reckon she'll probably win. She deserves it."

"Now there's something we don't hear often! It's not often tributes lay bets on the outcome of the Games! What do you think folks, is he right?"

There were a few shouts of 'yes' and a few of 'no.'

"So have you enjoyed your time here in the Capitol Calico?"

"Not really."

"Oh, why not?"

"Guess I'm just scared."

The buzzer went off and he left to join Tyla.

"Calico Weaver everyone!"

A polite round of applause came for him.

"Now, before we move onto District Nine, we have the second of our short breaks! Please feel free to visit the toilets, refill your food and drink, and enjoy a performance from one of our most popular artists and we'll return to move on to District Eight shortly!"

* * *

 **Author's Note**

So that's the second of the interview chapters and Districts 5 to 8 out of the way.

Big thank you to Hopps for your review!

There's one more interview chapter to go, and then two more chapters before the arena! Stay tuned!


	21. Interviews Part Three

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

"You're doing well," Tallulah whispered and gave her a kiss. Felicity kissed her back. Behind her, an advert for tribute posters was playing on the holoscreen.

"Only four more Districts now."

"Yes, and one of them's that maniac from Ten!"

"We're live in sixty seconds Felicity."

Tallulah hurried off and Felicity took her seat, straightening her dress and hair quickly before the holoscreen rose.

"Welcome back folks, to the interviews for the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games!

"First up from the land of wheat and bread, it's Maizie Miller!"

Maizie was wearing a floor length low cut sky blue dress with a pattern of white flowers, her golden hair pinned up and her face highlighted with blue makeup.

"Maizie, it's good to see you! How are you tonight?"

"A little nervous."

"Well, that's to be expected. Just think of how many people are looking at you right now!"

Maizie blushed.

"Don't worry, they'll all be thinking about how pretty you are. You look beautiful."

"Thank you," she whispered.

"And, might I say, just like your brother?"

That part hadn't been her idea. Fantasio had written it into the script. In his mind it was only like asking Diamond and Maximus about their Victor relatives.

"Earp Miller died five years ago in the One Hundred and Twenty Ninth Games, didn't he?"

"Yes," Maizie mumbled.

"Those were the Games Jasper Darkstone won! Now there' a coincidence!"

Maizie jumped and glared at Jasper in the Victor's row. He stared at her. Maybe he didn't make the connection.

"You'll be going into the arena with Jasper's brother Maximus, who I met earlier. Have you spoken to him at all?"

Maizie shook her head.

"Why don't you tell us a little about your relationship with Earp?"

"He was my big brother. He liked to joke around with me a lot, and pick me up. He taught me to ride a bike."

"And who have you got back home?"

"Just my mother. Our father died when I was little."

"Oh, that's a shame! But your mother will be supporting you I'm sure. Will she be watching right now?"

Maizie nodded.

"Is there anything you want to say to her?"

"I love you. I- I can win for both me and Earp. I know I can."

"Aw, how sweet! Now, you're in the same big alliance as Data, Gadge, Isaac and Calico, aren't you?"

Maizie nodded.

"Do you want to tell us a little about that?"

"Most of us fell together on the first day, and we got along pretty well. We all really like each other."

"That's good to hear! Does the size of your alliance worry you at all?"

"Not really. We all trust each other."

The buzzer went off.

"It's been a pleasure meeting you Maizie. Good luck out there."

"Thank you."

"Next up from the fields of wheat and grain, it's Maizie's District partner Silas Fields!"

Silas wore a long sleeved orange shirt and black trousers, walking out with a confident smile and waving to the audience. Felicity shook his hand. "Silas, looking smart tonight!"

"Thank you Felicity. You look wonderful yourself."

She smiled. "Oh, but you're the main show. Why don't you tell everyone why you volunteered? Did you know the boy you volunteered for?"

"No Felicity, I didn't."

"I'm sure he'll be grateful! So why did you do it?"

"For too many years now District Nine has had weak tributes like Maizie."

A round of 'oooos' came from the crowd. On the balcony Maizie clutched her hands to her mouth. Calico patted her arm awkwardly.

"I've been preparing for a very long time to prove to you that we are not all like that! Rest assured, I will be the Victor of these Games!" Silas said.

"Ooh, now those are tough words! What do you think ladies and gentlemen, can he do it?"

They screamed approval. One woman threw her bra at him. Silas laughed. "Thank you ma'am, but I don't think I've got the shape to pull that off."

Laughter came from the audience.

"You got a nine in training of course, which is a nice strong score, so the Gamemakers clearly like you!"

Silas flexed his arms. "What is there not to like?"

Felicity laughed. "We've heard from your allies that you're leading that alliance. Would you like to speak a little about that?"

"Well Felicity, I considered joining the Careers, but outliers in the Careers are always the first to go when they split up, so I decided to gather the strongest of the outer District tributes instead. It is purely an alliance of convenience, which means we have no need to become reliant on each other."

"That's an interesting way of looking at things. I think everyone's expecting big things from you!"

"They do right! I can tell you right now where their money would be best spent, and that's on me!"

The crowd clapped. A few people threw flowers and handkerchiefs.

"Why don't you tell us who's at home for you then?"

"My parents, and my three older brothers. We watch out for each other, but we've never been really close. They didn't agree with my decision to volunteer."

"Oh well that is a shame. Is there anything you'd like to say to them?"

Silas looked up at the cameras. "You don't need to worry about me. I'll be fine."

"Fifty seconds Felicity."

"Silas, we're nearly out of time already, but is there anything else you would like to say?"

"Only that I hope you'll give us a chance to prove ourselves, because we are ready to go!"

"Silas Fields everyone!"

He joined Maizie on the balcony. She edged away from him with a scowl and Calico wrapped an arm around her.

"Now, next up from the rolling fields of District Ten, it's our baby cowgirl, Sierra Prime!"

Sierra's dress was a pale pink monstrosity of lace and ruffles, ankle length, with four layers of skirts, a ruffle around the neck, and sleeves that puffed at the elbow and wrist. Her hair had been curled into blonde ringlets, and her eyes enlarged with pale pink highlights. She skipped out onto the stage, waving out at the audience.

"Aren't you just the most adorable little thing? Doesn't she look cute ladies and gentlemen?"

They shouted their agreement. Sierra giggled. "Thank you. Isn't my dress pretty?" She spun round, the skirts rustling around her legs.

"It certainly is!"

Sierra sat on the guest chair. "So what do you want me to talk about first?"

"Oh, I don't know! Hm, let's see… How about you tell us a little bit about your life back home?"

"Well, my family has a little farm. There's me, and my mummy and daddy, and my big brother Angus, he's fifteen and super-cool, and our doggie Rufus who helps with the cows, and our donkey Nessie. Sometimes when I'm really good Angus helps me ride her!"

"Oh, how exciting! Do you have a good relationship with Angus then?"

She nodded. "Angus is the bestest big brother ever! He plays with me and lets me help out with the cows and train Rufus!"

"That sounds like a lot of fun! What about your parents?"

"They're busy doing all the boring work. We had a real big argument before I came here, but it's okay. I should apologise when I go home."

"I'm sure they'll appreciate that, won't they ladies and gentlemen?"

The audience agreed. A few threw flowers. Sierra picked one up and tucked it into her hair.

"What about your time here in the Capitol? How have you found that?"

"It's been so much fun! Everything here's so pretty, and there's so much to do and look at!"

"It must be very different from District Ten!"

"It is! It's so pretty and cool!"

"What about your allies? I know that you're in the same alliance as Maizie, aren't you?"

"Yes!"

"Do you want to talk a little about that?"

"Well, Maizie's a lot of fun, she's not usually that quiet, she's really kind and happy. Then there's Zinnia, who's the boss, and she bosses us all about. I like Oliver the best though, because he's nice and lots of fun too."

"That's good to hear! It was Zinnia and Oliver who rescued you during the parade wasn't it?"

"Yes! They were so great!"

"We were all scared when we saw you fall off your chariot!"

"Forty seconds Felicity."

"We're almost out of time Sierra, but is there anything else you'd like to say before you go?"

"I've loved staying here and meeting you Felicity! I'll see you again soon after my trip!"

The buzzer sounded and she skipped away to her seat on the balcony.

"Next up from the land of the roaring bulls is Sierra's District partner, it's Colby Marshall!"

Colby was wearing a blood red suit, which bulged at the seams around his massive body. He stomped out onto the stage accompanied by two peacekeepers. Many of the audience members began to boo.

"Colby, you look awe inspiring in that suit!" Felicity shouted over the noise. He grunted. The chair was too small for him and creaked.

"We all saw what happened at the reaping with you and Zeus! Do you want to tell us a little about why you did that?"

"I needed to hit something."

"So you hit Zeus?"

The booing increased and objects began flying out of the crowd.

"What did he ever do to you?"

"Pulled my name out of that bowl didn't he?"

Felicity ducked a glass, which shattered behind her. "Yes, I suppose he did. Do you have a family back home you wanted to stay with then?"

"No. They threw me out."

"Ah."

"He was very satisfying to punch though. All crunchy."

Felicity swallowed. More and more things were flung by the crowd and one of the peacekeepers moved in front of her for protection while more entered the audience to stop the onslaught. Colby laughed. It was a terrifying sound. He laughed and laughed as they finally stopped the things being thrown. Felicity wet her lips. "So how have you found your time here in our beautiful Capitol?"

"Poor. I get marched about by these damn bodyguards all the time." He glared at the peacekeepers. One of them prodded him with their baton.

"There's no good entertainment either. Food's good though."

"Well, that's good to hear. Do you have a favourite food?"

"Naw."

The buzzer went off, which frankly was a relief.

"Colby Marshall everyone!"

He was escorted from the stage by the peacekeepers while the audience booed. A few people threw items. He wasn't taken to the balcony.

"Now, next up from District Eleven it's Sierra's hero, Zinnia Kane!"

Zinnia wore a fine deep red skirt and a separate top of the same colour with silver flowers over it that started above her stomach, leaving her stomach bare. Her black hair fell down her back. On her feet were high red heels.

"Zinnia, you look fine!"

Zinnia grunted and sat down.

"I hope you don't think I'm rude, but let's get straight to it! We've heard from a few of your allies that you're leading your alliance. Would you like to say anything about that?"

"There's not much to say. We all fell together, and everyone looks to me as the leader."

"How do you feel about your allies? You're an odd bunch, aren't you?"

"We like each other, and that's the main thing. Unlike either of the other two alliances this year, we trust each other. We know we can rely on each other. It doesn't matter that none of us are the strongest tributes, we've got strength in numbers."

"I'd say you were pretty strong. You did get a seven in training after all, and let's see those arms!"

Zinnia flexed her arms, showing off her muscle.

"What do you do to get muscle like that?"

"I work in the orchards, pulling the apple carts around."

"I can certainly see how that would build strength! What's life like for you back home?"

Zinnia shrugged. "Not great. I'm the oldest of six and my pop likes to beat us. Not me so much any more because I'm almost stronger than him, but mom and the younger ones."

"Oh, honey."

"We don't get fancy houses there like you get here. I share with my sisters, and my two brothers sleep in the partition off the common room. Pop spends a lot of time getting drunk and mom spends a lot of time crying about him."

"Well, when you win you won't have to worry about that, will she folks?"

The audience shouted their agreement.

"Do you know what you'd do if you won?"

"Take my siblings and live quietly. Don't bother me and I won't bother you."

Felicity giggled. "Is that a hint for the arena?"

Zinnia shrugged.

"Well, have you enjoyed your time here in our better living conditions?"

"It could have been better."

"Do you at least have a favourite part?"

"The showers."

The interview concluded and Zinnia took the seat next to Sierra. On the screen Sierra saw them join hands and shuffle close together. Cute.

"Up next from the land of agriculture, it's Zinnia's District partner and Sierra's friend Oliver Farmer!"

Oliver limped out onto the stage wearing a black suit, his black hair gelled into spikes. He collapsed into the guest chair.

"Oliver, it's good to see you!"

"It's nice to meet you Felicity!" He shook her hand.

"Oliver, tell us, what happened to your leg?"

His lower lip quivered. "I broke it last year and it healed badly."

"Broke it how?"

"Jumping out the window of my house. It burnt down."

"Oh no! Is the rest of your family alright?"

He shook his head. "They all died."

"Oh. You must miss them very much."

He sniffled and scrubbed a hand across his eyes. "More than anything. I think this might be fate, so that I can go and join them."

"Don't say that! He shouldn't say that, should he folks?"

They shouted 'no's.

"You've got a good strong alliance. We heard from Sierra earlier that you're her favourite ally."

Oliver smiled. "Sierra has a good heart. If you want to sponsor me and really help, sponsor her. Or Zinnia."

The audience 'aw'd.

"Do you want to tell us a little about your relationships with your allies?"

"Well, Zinnia's seems really tough and mean, but she's not really. Sierra's sweet, and I am pretty close with her. Maizie, she's kind and good as well. Gadge and Data stick together a lot, but I trust them. Isaac and Calico I don't know as well, but we get along pretty well."

"Sounds like you're a good group then! Any hints for what you're going to be up to in the arena?"

Oliver shook his head. "We're just going to stick together and take it from there. I have faith in Zinnia to lead us and keep us all together. She really deserves to win, and I'll be behind her the whole way!"

"That's nice to hear! It's not often we see allies with such dedication to each other!"

Oliver smiled up at the balcony. "Zinnia has a family she deserves to go back to and take care of. I don't have anyone like that. The decision is obvious."

"Well, that's a very mature look on things Oliver, and I wish you all the best. Is there anything you would like to say before you go?"

"Just that… we might not be as strong as some of the others, but we have the strength and stamina to weather the storm."

"Good to hear! It's been nice meeting you Oliver!"

"And you Felicity."

He limped off. Zinnia came down from the balcony to meet him and help him up the steps.

"Now we're on to our final District folks! First from the land of mines and fire, it's Briar Flint!"

Briar was wearing a floor length strapless dress that started black at the top and faded to white as it went down. Her dark hair was plaited and fell over her shoulder. Her features were highlighted with black make up.

"Briar, it's good to see you!"

"Thank you."

"You look stunning!"

"Yes, my stylist did a better job this time."

Felicity laughed. "Yes, your parade costume left a lot to be desired."

"Like basic coverage."

"Exactly like that. Now, tell me Briar, you volunteered. Could you tell us why?"

"That was my younger sister, Rosemary, who was reaped. She couldn't last in the arena. I had to protect her."

"Oh, that's sweet. I'm sure she'll be cheering for you back at home."

"She will."

"What about other members of your family?"

"There's my other sister, Lily. She's a lot more like me. She'll be the one keeping her head."

Felicity laughed.

"Then there's my mum. She's been sick a lot since our father died in a mine collapse."

"That's terrible, I'm sorry. Do you want to tell us a little about your time here in the Capitol?"

"I haven't seen much of it beyond the training centre. The food and the technology there are great though."

"We're getting a lot of complements on our food tonight folks!"

"Well, it's better than the gruel we get in District Twelve!"

"I have to agree with that! Do you have a favourite food?"

"The iced fingers."

"Mm, I like those too. What about a favourite technology?"

"Maybe the hairdryers. It's cool not to have it dripping for ages."

Laughter ran through the audience.

"Now, you got an eight in training. That's a pretty high score for a tribute from Twelve. Do you want to tell us how you got it?"

Briar smiled and shook her head. "You'll have to wait and see for that one Felicity."

"Ooh, mysterious! We'll certainly be watching out for that one, won't we folks?"

"One minute Felicity."

"We're almost out of time Briar, but before you go is there anything you'd like to say?"

"I volunteered for my sister. I'll be going home to my sister!"

The buzzer sounded.

"Briar Flint everyone!"

She left and took her place on the balcony.

"Now, last but not least, it's Briar's District partner Ash Coleman!"

Ash was wearing a simple white shirt and black trousers, his hair gelled back. He took his place on the guest chair.

"Ash, it's good to see you! And you look sharp in that shirt!"

He nodded.

"Are you enjoying your time in the Capitol?"

He shook his head.

"Oh no! Why ever not?"

He shrugged.

"Oh dear. Never mind. Why don't you tell us a little about your life back home?"

He shrugged again.

"Who have you got waiting for you?"

"There's only me, my father, and my sister. My mum died when I was younger."

"And what's your relationship like with them?"

He shrugged again.

"Are you on good terms?"

"Father works in the mines most of the time and gets drunk the rest. Ember's pretty sharp and we're not really close, but she's still my sister and we take care of each other."

"That's good to hear. What about friends?"

He shook his head.

"Love interests?" Felicity suggested. He shook his head again.

"Oh, well never mind. Have you got any hints for what you're going to be up to in the arena tomorrow?"

He shook his head.

"Oh, you're a secretive one! Are you sure there's nothing to be said?"

He nodded.

"We're nearly out of time! Would you like to say anything else? Any parting words?"

He shook his head and stood before the buzzer went, walking over to the balcony.

"Ash Coleman everyone!"

The audience clapped politely.

"Well, that's it for all the interviews! I'm Felicity Fierce, and up there are your tributes for the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games! Tomorrow, they will be entering the arena, and only one will emerge! I will be live streaming the start of the Games, so don't miss that! Happy Hunger Games everyone!"

* * *

 **Author's Note**

And that's the end of the interviews. Phew. Big thank to Dreamer for the review!


	22. Last Night in the Capitol

**Author's Note**

I do not own The Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Three Male, Gadge Bishop**

He stumbled back into the apartment, his head spinning. Data and Laurentia were shouting at Jillian and Binary.

"You got him drunk? He's twelve! How could you get him drunk?" Data shouted. Jillian shrugged.

"He liked it. Right kid?"

Gadge nodded. "Yeah, it was good."

Data slapped him around the head. "Idiot! You. Don't talk!"

"This is because you can't drink, isn't it?" asked Jillian.

"No! It's because he's twelve and you got him drunk before the interviews!" shouted Laurentia. "We're going to be a laughing stock!"

"How was I meant to know he can't handle his drink?"

"He's twelve!" screamed Laurentia and Data. Gadge tripped his way across the room and fell onto the sofa. The presenter was talking about the interview with the girl from Two.

"She is one fierce girl! She might be twelve but I think we can expect big, big things from this little lassie!"

That girl was his age with the look of a killer. Gadge shuddered. The presenter moved on to talking about the twins from Four and how amazing they had looked.

"You can tell they're used to being the centre of attention. They really owned that stage. And with their family back home you know they're going to fight."

Data shoved a glass of water into his hand. "Drink that."

"But I'm not thirsty."

"Just drink it."

Gadge sipped it. On screen, a clip of him falling over on stage played. He laughed like it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen, which it might have been. Data sighed and turned the TV off. "Finish your water."

Once he had she dragged him to his room and shoved him into the bed. "Go to sleep, and if you're hungover in the morning, don't come crying to me."

Gadge grinned sloppily up at her. "Hey Data?"

"What?"

"I wish I'd had a big sister like you."

She rolled her eyes. "Go to sleep Gadge."

 **District Seven Female, Willow Green (17)**

They arrived back at their apartment laughing and crying in equal measures, wrapped in each other's arms. Tupelo pinned her to the wall. "We could die tomorrow."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I don't care."

"We could be dead in three days' time."

She pulled him close. "It's been worth it just to meet you."

"If one of us wins, the other one will be dead."

Willow slapped her hand to her head. "And I shall be an eternal spinster because none could ever replace my true love."

"O don't say that my love, I'd hate to think of you lonely."

"Don't say that my love, I'd hate to think of you with someone else warming your bed. I'm a possessive kind of girl don't you know?"

"Would you haunt me?"

She grinned. "I would totally haunt you. I'll hang around you in the arena and offer support and when you win I'll follow you everywhere rattling chains and shouting 'oooohwoooowhooo.'

"Then I wouldn't need another, because I'd still have you my love."

Hazel rolled her eyes and flopped down on the sofa. "Good job out there guys. Now replicate it in the arena like Maple did and my job here will be done."

"Psychopaths," whispered Grover.

"Tell me, would you haunt me if you died?" Willow asked.

"I would so haunt you. You'd have to stick to your promise of being an eternal spinster."

"You can knock it off now!" Hazel shouted.

"You want to take this somewhere away from the party pooper brigade?" Tupelo asked. Willow grinned.

"Absolutely!"

He pulled her through to his room and they collapsed on the bed. She kissed him. "I wish my father had arranged a marriage with you."

"I wish I'd known about you. I'd have charged in there and rescued you my love."

"O my white knight!"

Tupelo sighed. "Seriously though, what are we going to do? We can't both win."

Willow closed her eyes. "It wouldn't be the first time two tributes have become Victors. We'll really have to sell it to them though."

"What, just like we've just done?"

"Like that and more my sweet love."

"Then we'll do it. We'll swallow our pride and do all the terrible lovey-dovey things. We'll hunt down other tributes and be the killer couple. We'll do everything they want." He leant over and kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you too. Also, if I die, you so totally have to win so I can haunt you, because I swear I will."

"Cross your heart and hope to die?"

"I'm hoping to live thank you very much."

 **District Four Male, Orion Achoda (18)**

The interviews had gone amazingly, but the chance of it going badly had always been small. They'd been performing on stage for years now, and that was just another kind of performance.

"You two were wonderful! Everyone loved you! Oh, I knew having twin tributes would do well for me!" squeaked Sagittarius.

"We are living breathing people!" Astoria shouted.

"We're not objects for your entertainment!" Orion added. Sagittarius beamed.

"Oh, you must do that in the arena."

Astoria stormed off to her room. Orion followed and locked the door. Astoria ripped off her dress, leaving it on the floor, and walked through to the bathroom. Orion followed and locked that door too. She switched the shower on. "You getting in?"

Orion nodded and pulled off his interview costume, throwing it aside and following her into the shower cubicle. They had learnt that despite embarrassment it was the safest place to talk away from prying eyes, cameras, and microphones. Images from their talk on the second day of training had been broadcast on a few shows, with comments that they might have been bonding or plotting. Luckily they'd gotten away with it, but they hadn't done that again.

"You still up for what we discussed?" Orion asked.

"Yup."

"I'll take Maximus. You do Diamond. If we leave Valkyrie for last, then even if she wakes it's no big deal."

Astoria nodded.

"I'm sorry for getting you into this."

"It's hardly your fault. Sagittarius was the one that pulled my name out, and the girls at the academy were the ones that didn't volunteer."

Orion sighed. "I looked it up sister-mine."

"Looked what up?"

"The Games where they crowned more than one Victor. The Seventy Fourth, Ninety Third, and One Hundred and Fifteenth Games.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Victors didn't live happily ever after."

"The Victors of the One Hundred and Fifteenth were Amelia Meadows of District Nine and Harvey Pickett of District Ten, who fell in love in the arena. They were both allowed to live in District Ten. In the year of the One Hundred and Twenty Second Games Amelia was found drowned in the river. Harvey became an alcoholic."

"It's tragic, but not exactly a conspiracy brother-mine."

"The Victors of the Ninety Third were cousins, Aubrey and Jackson Anderson. Their banter entertained the audience so much that they were allowed to win jointly, since there was a precedent."

"Go on then, what was their tragic fate?"

"Aubrey was shot to death three years later in what was called a mugging gone wrong. Jackson died two years after that, morphling overdose."

"Hm. What about the Seventy Fourth then?"

"The Victors of the Seventy Fourth Games were the pair from District Eleven. And that's all I can find on them. It was the first time the Games had more than one Victor, and they vanish from the records some time during the uprisings between the Seventy Sixth and the Eightieth Games. Nothing on what happened to them."

"Huh."

"We're pretty much damned if we do and damned if we don't."

Astoria closed her eyes. "We could have got by dancing. You didn't need to volunteer."

"I know. This is all my fault. But what were the chances?"

She turned her face into the water. "Slim. But you're my brother, and I can't imagine winning this without you."

"We do this together then?"

"Together or not at all."

 **District Six Female, Kara Transson (17)**

The talk shows were all about the interviews. There seemed to be a lot of excitement over the Eleven girl's alliance, the twins from Four, and the girl from Two who tried to bite the interviewer, but she was getting a little after what they were calling her 'stunt with the shoes' and because of her score of eleven in training. Kara didn't mind. She would make them all pay once she was into the arena. The Careers might have their illegal training, but she had already killed people. She stood over a man at thirteen and watched the blood leave his body. They might be strong, but she was used to hardship, hunger, and pain. Above everything, she had the advantage of not caring whether she lived or died, just as long as everything burnt with her.

"Why is nobody talking about me?" Logan whined.

"Because you're rubbish," Kara replied and slammed the door to her room. Outside, Logan complained.

"You can't say that! Tell her she can't say that!"

Fortley knocked at her door. "Kara, you really should try to be more likeable. No one will sponsor you if you're horrible, and the Gamemakers don't want an unlovable Victor."

"Piss off!" she snapped and locked the door. At least on the streets you can punch them in the face and make them respect your private space. She grabbed a non-alcoholic drink from the cabinet. She didn't want to end up like the kid from Three and go into the arena hungover. Even she had her limits. She stepped out of her interview dress, kicked it into the laundry disposal, and walked through to the bathroom.

She pressed all the buttons around the edge of the bath. It filled with orange, bubbly water that smelt like roses. Kara jumped in. Water spilt over the sides. She had to admit being clean was nice. She could get used to that. Before she arrived in the arena she couldn't remember the last time she'd been clean.

She wondered what her brothers thought back home, whether they were missing her. She would make them proud once she got into that arena.

She scrubbed every hint of the makeup and perfume from her skin and sat in the bathwater until it went cold. All her life she had been fighting, what was one more in the grand scheme of things?

Kara pulled on the silk nightgown left out for her and climbed into bed. When she closed her eyes she dreamt of flames.

 **District Nine Male, Silas Fields (18)**

In the last hour his odds, sponsors and sponsorship money had rocketed. Silas had sat at the screens and watched them go up. Everyone loved them. The twins from Four were topping the polls, with the other Careers close behind, but he was next beneath them, and for the first year of a trained volunteer from Nine that wasn't bad. He could live with that.

"Now all you've got to do is win and show them we're not a joke," said Barry. Silas smiled.

"That should be the easy part."

Once he won he would have to return home and start training others. Most of them would die, but at least Nine's tributes would stop being like Maizie.

Speaking of which, her sponsorship had also gone up. Her little alliance was crazy popular. Most of the talk shows were talking about it, which Silas hated, because they were supposed to be talking about his!

He might have to take the Eleven girl out in the bloodbath. She was leading the alliance, so with her dead it should collapse. He'd have to talk to the others. It could make things much easier in the long run.

His odds went up again while he was in the shower, as did Maizie's. Silas switched the feed off before going to bed. Everything could have changed again by the morning.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

That's it then folks, only one more chapter now before the arena! And on that note, the favourites poll has closed and I've opened a new one on who you think should/will die in the bloodbath. Please do vote, I am taking note of the responses!

Big thank you to Dreamer for reviewing the last chapter and Glaecier for the follow!

Also, on another, less positive note, this chapter may mark the end of regular updates for a while since I'm about to be very busy in my personal life. For anyone reading this with a fic I have a character in, that extends to reviews, so please be patient with me and message me if you need to. I am written and planned ahead for this, so I'm hoping to keep to weekly updates, but we'll see how it goes. At least for the next month while things settle down it could be very unpredictable.


	23. Last Morning in the Capitol

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Three Female, Data Huxley (18)**

She woke that morning to Little One kicking like mad and waddled through to the bathroom to throw up before taking a quick shower. She traced one hand over her stomach. "Don't worry. I'll look after us." She couldn't let Little One die with her, and that meant she had to win.

When she got back to her room clothing had been left for her on the dresser. Little One kicked hard. Data got dressed and left the room for the last time.

Laurentia's voice was coming from Gadge's room. "Get up! I'm not ending up in a rush like last year, so you are going to get up and get sorted."

Data stopped in the doorway. Laurentia had dragged Gadge out of bed. He was still wearing his interview clothes. Laurentia passed him a glass. "Drink that. It'll help."

"I'm not thirsty."

"Unless you want to go into the arena hungover, you'll drink it."

Data sat down on the sofa to find out what the talk shows were saying.

She wished she hadn't. All the talk shows were focused on the upcoming start of the Games in five hours and talking about who they thought was most likely to die. Her name was on the list at an eighty five percent probability.

There was an eighty five percent probability she would die.

Data rushed back to her room to throw up again.

Jillian and Binary were watching the talk show when she got back to the common room.

"Can we watch something else?" Data asked. Jillian scowled.

"There is nothing else. This is all they're talking about."

"Well can we turn it off?"

"No."

Data sat down. The presenters were discussing the Careers and who had the best odds. At the moment it was the boy from Two, quickly followed by the girl from One.

It was half an hour before Laurentia dragged Gadge from his room. He looked much better now.

"Oh good, Data, you're up. Have you eaten?" Laurentia asked.

"I'm not hungry."

"You need to eat."

"I'd throw it up again."

"You need to eat. You can't go into the arena on an empty stomach. What would you like?"

"Toast."

"I'll get some toast for you as well Gadge."

"How are you feeling?" Data asked once their escort had left.

"Better. That stuff of hers really works."

"As if you got drunk before the interviews, what were you thinking?"

"I didn't know that was going to happen did I? Jillian just offered the stuff and I took it."

"Future note, alcohol will get you drunk."

"Noted."

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

He woke with Willow in his arms. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Today they were both entering a fight to the death.

Her beautiful green eyes opened. "Today's the day."

"Today's the day," he agreed. By the end of today, not all of the twenty three kids he saw on stage last night would be alive. Willow stretched.

"We should be getting up and prepared then my love."

"O, but I wish I could lie here with you forever."

She flicked the end of his nose. "Don't be so silly. Hazel would never allow it."

He grinned. "Touché."

She propped herself up on her elbow, her hair flowing around her face.

"Do you regret it? Volunteering?" he asked.

"If I hadn't volunteered my love I would have been forced to marry that old pig and only ever admired you from afar."

"Good point. Very good point. You should use that one in the arena."

"Duly noted my love." She leant over to kiss him.

"We could die in a few hours."

"I'm not planning on it." She climbed out of the bed. "We should get ready."

She left to go back to her room and he took a long hot shower. It could be his last in a while. Clothes had been left for him when he returned. He dressed and met Willow, Itis, Hazel, and Grover at the dining table.

"How are you two feeling?" Hazel asked.

"Nervous."

"That's to be expected. Don't let it affect you too much. You know what you're doing?"

"Get supplies from inside the cornucopia or near as we can. Get axes. Meet up with our allies. Target the girl from Two and the boy from One. Secure the cornucopia if at all possible."

The girl from Two was twelve. Tupelo tried to imagine driving an axe into her head. She was twelve. She also scored higher than him in the private sessions. That was one of the reasons Silas wanted to target her. Hazel nodded. "Good. Keep it all straight in your heads. Stick to it. Hold your nerve."

"Psychopaths," Grover whispered.

"Don't forget, I want to see one of you coming back here."

"Psychopaths from our District. Whatever next?"

"We're not psychopaths! We're just doing what needs to be done." Willow protested.

She sidled up to him as they left the apartment and stood on her toes to reach his ear. "I regret it just a little bit."

 **District One Female, Diamond Blush (17)**

Today was the day.

Today she got to show everyone what she was made of.

Today she got to show everyone how much better than Tiara she was.

She had taken a long shower and dressed in the clothes left before breakfast. Tiara was the only one at the table, already with a half drunk glass of wine.

"Are you drinking already?" Diamond sneered.

"I need to be drunk today. My little sister's about to do the stupidest thing she's ever done."

Diamond rolled her eyes and started helping herself to foods.

"Why'd you it? I could have taken care of our family for the rest of your lives!"

"Oh yes, brave, self-sacrificing Tiara is always the heroine."

"Diamond!"

"I am sick of being in your shadow! I'm better than you and I'm going to prove it."

"Is that really how you feel?"

"Everyone's always made it pretty clear! Well guess what, I'm not just going to be pushed aside for you!"

Tiara stared at her. "That was never how it was."

"How was it then? How was it when mother and father were favouring you, when I was getting ignored, when I got better grades than you at that age but it was still Tiara this and Tiara that, when I was one of the top students at the academy and all they were interested in was Platinum? How was it when all anyone in this family does is ignore me?"

"I was protecting you!"

"You were jealous of me!"

"Why would I be jealous of you?"

"Because I'm better than you!"

"No, Diamond, you're not!"

"You still can't admit it! You can't just face facts and sat I'm better than you!"

Tiara rubbed her head. "I wish you'd come to me with this before."

"Oh yes, I'm sure Tiara the eternal martyr would have something to say."

"I'm sorry you felt that way, but you should have known you could talk to me."

"When? When you were out getting drunk and having sex with strangers in some seedy club? When you were listening to that terrible music? When you were getting drunk at eight o'clock in the morning? Tell me Tiara, when?"

"Whenever! How could I have helped you when I didn't know how you felt?"

"You're my sister! You should have known!"

"How? You never speak to me!"

"Did you ever think maybe I don't speak to you because I don't want to speak to you?"

"Diamond, do you know what the arena is? It's not an adventure and it's not honourable. It's hell."

"Poor martyr Tiara. You know what? I'm going into the arena today, I'm going to be the Victor, and you'll be old news."

"I didn't want you and Platinum to end up like me. But you know what? If anyone deserves it it's you."

 **District Eleven Female, Zinnia Kane (17)**

She never thought she would end up liking Oliver. In the arena he would be a liability. She should have made stronger allies. The two of them ate a small breakfast while the presenters on TV talked about who they thought would die.

"Cheery breakfast entertainment," Oliver said. Zinnia grunted. A picture of him appeared on screen. The presenter said cheerily that he had a ninety six percent chance of dying. Zinnia threw her glass at the screen. It shattered.

"Hey! I was watching that!" complained Tomer. Dawn laughed.

"That's the spirit girl! Keep that up in the arena. We need another Victor for Eleven!"

"There's Oliver here too," she said.

"I have a ninety six percent chance of dying in the bloodbath."

Zinnia grunted. "You better take that four percent of not."

He glanced at their mentors, who were busy cleaning the glass and water from the screen. The presenter had moved on to talking about the volunteer from Twelve.

"Is that deal still active?" Oliver asked.

 _…_ _three days ago…_

Zinnia watched as the two tributes walked round the corner. She'd never seen them apart. She jogged to follow and catch up with them. "Wait!"

They turned to face her.

"What do you want?" asked the boy.

"I want to talk to you."

The girl narrowed her eyes. "About what?"

"I want to make a deal."

The girl nodded slowly. "We can't talk here."

Zinnia followed them to the showers to the swimming pool. The two girls stood in one of the stalls while the boy turned on the surrounding showers at full blast and then joined them.

"So what kind of deal are we talking?" asked the girl.

"A truce. For the bloodbath."

The boy frowned. "What's in it for us?"

"You two don't come after me, my District partner, or any of our allies, and in return I'll watch your back. We all know your alliance isn't exactly stable."

The girl folded her arms across her chest. Zinnia tried not to stare.

"Again, what's in it for us?"

"Someone you can actually trust to watch your back. Don't tell me you trust your allies?"

"No deal," said the boy. The girl wrapped her arms around him. Zinnia wished that was her and not him.

"Let's not be hasty brother-mine. I'm sure we can work something out. Right Eleven?"

 _…_ _the present day…_

"Yeah," Zinnia replied.

"Do you think we can trust them?"

"Not as far as we can throw them. But for now it's two less tributes trying to kill us."

They finished their breakfast in awkward silence.

 **District Eight Female, Tyla Calico (17)**

Calico cried all morning and continued to cry as Junia pushed them out the door.

"Don't cry! I'm sure you'll be fantastic! You'll both do brilliantly! I know I'll beat Julius this year!"

Calico cried more. Tyla straightened her jacket. This was why more kids should prepare. This was why she prepared. At least she would be going into that arena with good fitness, strong allies, and a fighting chance. Calico would not.

They entered yet another long mirrored corridor at the same time as Silas and his District partner. Junia stuck her tongue out at their escort. "Hah! I beat you here!"

"You did not!"

"I did too! And Tyla and Calico are going to beat yours is the Games too!" She slung her arms around their shoulders. "Right Tyla?"

"Um. Yeah, I hope so."

"Right Calico?"

Calico cried. Julius laughed. "You are not! Silas and Maizie are so going to beat your two this year!"

"Are not!"

"Will too!"

"Will not!"

"You'd wonder how those two ever managed to keep their jobs," Silas said. Tyla smiled.

"The Capitol seems to like it, they're popular. Some of the talk shows have said they might get a move up next year if we do well."

Silas rolled his eyes. Suddenly, Julius ran ahead to the desk at the end of the corridor and slammed his hand down on it. "Hah! I beat you here Junia! District Nine, Silas Fields and Maizie Miller."

The woman at the desk pressed a button on her keyboard. "Thank you."

Four peacekeepers came out from behind her.

"They will be taken to the hovercraft. Next?"

"District Eight, Calico Weaver and Tyla Calico."

The woman pressed another button and four more peacekeepers came out.

"Thank you. They will be taken to the hovercraft."

They were led through a dark corridor and across a ramp into the hovercraft. Her seat was between Silas and Tupelo. Willow was sitting opposite them, between Calico and the boy from Six.

"You remember the plan?" Silas asked. Tyla swallowed.

"Yes."

"Yes," replied Tupelo.

Silas nodded. "Good." He glanced to the front of the hovercraft, where four of the Careers were already sat.

"Let's give them something to be worried about."

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone (18)**

Belladonna left them at the desk and they were taken to the hovercraft. His seat was between the pregnant girl from Three and the girl from Five. V sat opposite him, between Lucian and the boy from Three.

The tributes from Twelve were the last to board, being given seats at the bottom of the hovercraft. Peacekeepers walked up and down the aisle, checking they all had their harnesses fastened, and then they set off.

This was it.

This was the moment he had trained for since he was a child.

He, Maximus Darkstone, was following his siblings, parents, and grandfather into the Hunger Games. His gaze met V's.

He wondered what his family would think if they knew what he had planned.

 _…_ _two days ago…_

"Can I call you V? Valkyrie's going to be a mouthful to shout in the arena."

V grinned. "Only if I can call you Max."

"Deal. I need to talk to you." He unfolded the piece of paper Jas gave him. The picture showed a waterfall with two deer safely looking at each other behind it. On the riverbank, dozens of eyes were looking in other directions. Jas drew some disturbing pictures sometimes. Max tore it in half. "But not here."

They went through to his bathroom and ran the shower, sitting down behind it.

"So what do you need?" V asked.

"Actually, it's more- It's- Look, V, truth is you deserve to win this way more than I do. You need to go home."

V narrowed her eyes. "Is this going somewhere? I didn't volunteer not knowing I could die."

"I want to help you."

V frowned. "You want to help me? How?"

"We'll stick together. I'll look out for you, and you look out for me."

"And if we're the final two?"

"Then we'll deal with that when we come to it. Let's just focus on getting District Two their next Victor for now, yeah?"

V smiled.

 _…_ _the present day…_

A Capitolite woman with white hair stood in front of the Three girl. "Hold your arm out for your tracker."

The Three girl touched her stomach. "Will it hurt my little one?"

"Of course not. Now hold your arm out."

A minute later it was Max's turn. He held his arm out. Academy training had been rougher than one injection. The tracker felt cold under his skin. He rubbed his fingers over it. The woman moved on. Across the aisle, V was rubbing her arm.

Max smiled.

This was it.

This was the moment he had trained for since he was a child.

He, Maximus Darkstone, was following his siblings, parents, and grandfather into the Hunger Games.

It was time to make history.

 **District Twelve Male, Ash Coleman (13)**

He and Briar were amongst the first to have their trackers injected. He rubbed his arm, stared at her across the aisle, and thought of his father and older sister Ember back home. Were they about to watch him die? Were they crying? Did they miss him?

He looked at the tributes on board the hovercraft with him. In a few hours some of them would be dead.

Would one of those dead be him? Last year Twelve's tributes died in the bloodbath. And the year before that. And the year before that.

He tried to keep what Ember told him in his head.

 _…_ _six days ago…_

"You're good at making traps. You can get food. And those traps can be used for people as well you know Ash. And you've a good aim. You can come home to us, I know you can."

 _…_ _the present day…_

Twelve hadn't had a Victor in decades. He and Briar were relying on Vanity to get them sponsorship and support. The only people lower on the polls than him were the girl from Ten and the boy from Eleven. Even the boy from Eight had higher odds, and he was still crying.

But that was how Ash wanted it.

Everyone expected the tributes from Twelve to die in the bloodbath, so no one paid them any attention. Ash could use that. Everyone would forget about him. He could vanish into the background, lay traps for other tributes, and kill them when they'd all but forgotten about him.

Ember was right.

He could go home.

He knew he could.

Now all he had to do was turn planning into reality.

Across from him the girl from Ten was crying and the boy from Eleven trying to comfort her. They were part of a huge alliance this year. Ash wondered how many of them would escape the bloodbath.

The hovercraft came to a stop.

"Please remain in your seats," said the Capitol woman who had been in charge of the trackers. Four doors opened in the corners of the hovercraft and more Capitolites entered. Ash soon realised they must be the other tributes' stylists as his own stylist, Tabitha, helped him remove the harness and led him from the craft.

 **District Five Female, Electra Balfos (15)**

Electra remembered sitting on a train a lifetime ago, watching her home, life, and parents get further and further away until they were nothing but a shimmer in the distance.

The fear she felt then was nothing compared to this.

The bloodbath was the one thing she was most scared of. She couldn't get out of it. The Gamemakers could blow her up on her pedestal if they wanted to, or she could be killed by a Career or that huge boy from Ten, or lose her balance and trigger the mines, or run the wrong direction and straight into a trap.

Attikus and the four peacekeepers led her to a room with District Five Female on the door. A large glass tube stood at the back. To the right was a full length mirror and a hanger with clothes on, to the left was a small table with a jug of water and platters of food.

The door locked. There was only one way out now.

Electra took a glass of water and sipped at it. To keep herself calm, she tried to remember what her father said to her on the train.

 _…_ _six days ago…_

Electra waited for the avox to leave and tore the envelope he gave her open, pulling out a small communicator and a sheet of paper.

 _My dearest Electra,_ was written on the paper, _please keep heart._

She turned the communicator on. Her father took a moment to answer. "Electra! It got to you then?"

She nodded, swallowing back tears.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't say goodbye. I wanted to, but you understand I was on duty."

She nodded again. Her father's peacekeeper duties often kept him away from his family.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Missing you."

"I miss you too baby. I love you. But you're clever my darling. You're fast and cunning, and I know you have the resolve. Do you remember what I taught you?"

"Aim for the eyes," she replied.

"That's my girl! Keep heart Electra. I have faith in you."

"Love you daddy."

"Love you too."

 _…_ _the present day…_

"Remove your clothes," Attikus said. She shrugged off the costume given to her this morning.

"This is what you will be wearing in the arena."

It was a pale green onesie with a lightning bolt symbol on the front and back and the District Five seal on the shoulders. Electra would have laughed if she hadn't been so afraid. "That?"

"Yes."

Attikus helped her dress. The onesie had built in padded socks and mittens, covering her entirely from her feet to her neck. Electra felt more ridiculous than in her lightbulb costume. She flexed her fingers. The mittens were going to be a problem handling things.

"There are also these," Attikus said, showing her a pair of large booties. They looked knitted, but when Electra slid her feet in she found they weren't. Attikus fastened the ribbons into tight bows for her. "Your hair we'll plait and pin up." He pinned it in a bun at the base of her head. "This is also provided with your arena clothes." He tied a pale green bonnet around her head. "And your token." He draped a necklace with a large pendent around her neck, tucking it beneath the hem of her onesie.

A claxon went off in the room.

"Oh my. That's it I'm afraid. Into the tube you go."

It sealed closed around her and went dark before starting to rise. Electra closed her eyes and counted to ten.

When she opened them again she was inside the arena.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

*drumroll please*

There we are, the final chapter before the arena! Some big, and not so big, reveals for you folks! Any last minute thoughts or theories? Who do you think will or rightfully should go down in the bloodbath? (Do vote on the poll for that if you haven't already.)

Big thank you to Dreamer for the review and littlehalfpint for the follow! Next chapter is the countdown, and then the bloodbath, so I'll see you on the other side!


	24. Countdown

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

The tributes rose up and up into the arena. The pedestals were high in the air, with nothing but open space beneath them. Thin bridges led out in front of them to small islands and suspended stepping stones led behind to the rest of the arena. They were not standing in one circle of twenty four around a large cornucopia and were instead in four small circles of six around islands with small piles of supplies in the centre. In the centre of the four circles was the main cornucopia.

"Welcome, tributes of the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games!" came the voice of the arena announcer. A countdown began high above the central cornucopia, starting at sixty seconds.

"May the odds be ever in your favour."

Diamond was stood at the top of the top left circle. To her right was the boy from Twelve, and to her left the little girl from Ten. Valkyrie was directly opposite her. The other Careers were all in different circles. Diamond smiled. The Gamemakers had put them like this deliberately, they must have done. It was perfect.

Ash glanced around himself. To his left was the girl from One, but she was the only real threat facing the same island as him. He wet his lips. He needed those supplies.

To Ash's right, Oliver struggled to balance on his podium. To his left was the boy from Twelve, to his right the little girl from Two. Past her was Data, which was a relief, and Sierra was directly opposite him. Zinnia was in the circle to his left. The stepping stones leading back from her podium didn't connect to the same chunk of land as the one his stones connected to. If he went with the plan and ran, how would she find him? She met his eyes and pointed at the stepping stones, then the land a short distance away with a stern look. Oliver nodded. That way it was then.

V shifted restlessly on her podium. This wasn't the plan! What was she meant to do now? Looking around she couldn't see Max. Other than Diamond, all the other tributes in this circle were unthreatening, and Diamond was her ally. V glanced at the boy from Eleven, the one with a bad foot. She could take him. She looked at the main cornucopia where she was meant to secure the supplies and made her decision.

On Valkyrie's right was Data. She ran her hand over her stomach and hummed softly. "Don't worry Little One. I'll take care of you."

Last in that circle was Sierra, who was crying from fear, sure she would fall. Data was on her right, and Oliver directly opposite. It was only a few hundred metres, but it felt like miles, especially with nothing but open air under her feet.

In the circle to the left, Zinnia was stood diagonally across from Oliver. She was never meant to end up actually liking the boy! It was infuriating. She scowled and glared at the spear on top of the pile of supplies on her island. That was hers.

To Zinnia's left stood Colby. His podium looked slightly bigger than the other tributes', to support his large build. He smiled. All his life people had held him back. Now was his time to show them his true self.

To Colby's left was Isaac's closest ally Calico. He was crying again and trying to wipe away the tears with his mittened hands. His heart pounded in his chest. He didn't want to die.

On his left was Astoria. She glanced around the circle. On her right was the swimmer from Eight, on her left the boy from Seven. Orion was in the circle to her right. He caught her gaze and the two smiled. She stared at the pile of supplies in the centre of her island and the bow on top of it. "Here goes nothing."

Tupelo had found Willow in the circle to his right. He smiled and blew her a kiss. She pressed her hands together and touched them to her lips before mouthing 'I love you.' Tupelo whispered it back.

Briar was staring at the bow on top of the other supplies. That was meant for her. It must be. The Gamemakers had put it there for her to take. She wet her lips. For Lily and Rosie.

The counter ticked down past thirty seconds.

In the circle to their right Orion let out a long breath. To his right stood the girl from Seven, and then Maximus and the boy from Five, to his left was the girl from Five, followed by the volunteer from Nine. Maximus waved at him and pointed at the main cornucopia. Orion nodded and wet his lips. Twenty five seconds to curtain up.

Willow had found herself in the same circle as Silas, and Tupelo and Tyla were in the one to their right. Tupelo blew her a kiss. She smiled and pressed her fingers to her lips.

Max couldn't see V. Or Diamond for that matter. He wasn't sure which one worried him more. Hopefully once he was in the centre of the circle he could find her. Before someone else, like the boy from Nine one podium down, did.

Isaac was nearly hyperventilating. His knees knocked. He was sure he would fall from his podium at any moment. He looked around for Calico and found him in the same circle Oliver found Zinnia. He shuffled on his podium and stared at the supplies in front of him. He could reach those.

On Isaac's right, Silas was focused on the big prize of the main cornucopia. This was what he trained for. It was time to bring honour to District Nine.

Between Silas and Orion was Electra, who had decided she would have to run from the bloodbath. There were too many powerful tributes in her circle. She turned carefully on her podium to face the stepping stones leading to an island filled with trees.

Maizie bit her lip until it bled. This- This wasn't the plan! She was supposed to grab a backpack of supplies for their alliance, but did she get them from the smaller pile or the main cornucopia? On top of that, she couldn't even see Zinnia or Calico! Why did she ever think she could do this?

On Maizie's left was Logan, who was eyeing up the spear on top of the pile of supplies. It wasn't as cool as a sword, but it would do for the bloodbath.

To his left was Tyla, who was shifting her weight from foot to foot. The boy from One was on her right, which worried her. She was prepared, but not good enough to go up against a Career.

Lucian was the only Career in his circle. He could get away without killing anyone and run to the main cornucopia instead. With the others split up like this they would never know.

Gadge glanced around himself to find his allies, taking comfort in Maizie's closeness. He was meant to gather supplies from near his podium, but that would mean running to the little island anyway, and all with a Career to his left!

For the first time since she had been reaped, Kara felt deathly calm. She wasn't ready for the arena, but the arena certainly wasn't ready for her. She would rain fire and fury on these morons.

To Hell with them all.

The gong rang.

For a second, none of the tributes moved.

And then movement began. The first collision between two tributes came and a crack rang through the air.

The first tribute had fallen.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Okay then folks, here we are! The beginning of the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games! Feel free to lay your bets and predictions here! Any guesses on who just died or placement predictions? If you haven't already, vote on the bloodbath poll as I'll close it when I post the bloodbath chapter (which will hopefully be tomorrow). By now the bloodbath deaths have all been decided, but I am taking all the results into consideration for the long run. As I said, I will hopefully post the bloodbath chapter tomorrow (or if not then, then soon-ish) but after that it will be 'see how we go' for my update schedule for a while.

Big thank you to Hopps for your review!


	25. Bloodbath

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

Zinnia was the first to leave her podium, leaping nimbly onto the balance beam. The other tributes sprang into life, Orion, Astoria, Ash, Kara, and Colby being amongst the first to follow her. Oliver, Data, and Electra jumped onto the stepping stones to flee. Zinnia, Orion, Astoria, Valkyrie, Calico, and Colby were the first to reach the smaller islands. Zinnia grabbed one of the smaller bags and then jumped onto the bridge to the main cornucopia. Behind her, Calico and Colby collided as both reached for the same backpack and Calico was knocked to the ground. Colby grinned down at him. "Looks like you're up."

"No, please-"

Colby stomped down hard on his neck and snapped it. Calico's body collapsed lifelessly. Colby snatched up the backpack and then followed after Zinnia.

Meanwhile, Briar had her sights fixed on the bow at the top of the pile of supplies. That was hers. It might even be the same one she used in training. She reached for it at the same time as Astoria. The two of them looked at each other, stunned, and then Briar pulled it away and snatched up the quiver. Astoria seized a knife and jumped on her back, running the knife through her throat. Briar collapsed, choking on blood. Astoria picked up the bow and slung the quiver over her shoulder. At the edge of the island, Tupelo grabbed a small backpack and ran onto the bridge to run to Willow's island. Astoria followed him a moment later.

Isaac had frozen on his podium when the gong rang and was shivering in fear. Willow had reached the island first and grabbed the axe from on top of the supplies before slinging a medium bag over her back. Orion grabbed a knife and jumped onto the bridge to the next small island, while Maximus and Silas ran onto the one to the main cornucopia.

Lucian, Tyla, and Kara all reached their island at the same time. Lucian and Tyla both grabbed for the spear, but unlike Astoria, Lucian let Tyla have it and grabbed a knife before running to the bridge for the main cornucopia. Kara too took a knife and followed him.

Maizie was the next to reach that island, and she took the large backpack and the last knife. She then grabbed one of the medium bags as Logan reached the island. "Gadge!"

Gadge had turned around on his podium and was going to flee. He turned again and Maizie threw him the bag. He gave her a thumbs up and she jumped onto the bridge to follow him.

Logan was the last to reach the island. Orion got there as Maizie and Gadge were running off. Logan grinned. "Coming to beg for my help Four? I'd give it for a price."

Orion growled and charged at him. Logan tried to swing a punch, but it wasn't very effective. Orion stabbed him through the eye. Logan collapsed to the ground. "Ow my eye!"

Orion ripped the knife out. "That's for ogling my sister creep." He kicked him in the stomach and then shoved him off the edge of the island. Logan fell into the abyss.

Valkyrie and Ash were the first to reach their island. They stared at each other, two of the youngest tributes, one a Career and the other an outer District underdog. Ash snagged a bag and a knife and Valkrie grabbed the sword, taking a swing at him. Ash dodged and ran to the bridge leading to the rest of the arena as Diamond reached the island. She dove at Valkyrie. "Give me that!"

Valkyrie dodged and swung the sword at her. Diamond tackled her from the side and knocked the smaller girl to the ground. Seeing an opportunity, Sierra ran forward to the island as the other two girls fought. Diamond wrestled the sword from Valkyrie's hand. Sierra grabbed a knife and a large backpack, hitting Diamond over the head with it as she swung it onto her back. Valkyrie managed to kick her and roll to her feet, grabbing at a knife. Sierra fled as the two continued to scuffle.

Tupelo met Willow on her island and the two ran onto the bridge to the main cornucopia. Now all the other tributes were gone, Isaac ran forward and took a small bag and a knife. As he did so Astoria ran past him and onto the bridge to the next island, where Orion had just shoved Logan over the edge. Isaac followed her and immediately ran after Maizie and Gadge.

Zinnia was also the first to reach the main cornucopia. She grabbed a medium sized backpack and was taking a spear from inside the horn as Lucian and Kara arrived. Kara shoved past Lucian, grabbed a large backpack and a machete, and fled back across Isaac's island. Lucian picked up a sword and took a few steps toward Zinnia. She thrust the spear at his stomach. He dodged aside and raised his hands. Again she stabbed the spear at him. He shook his head, pointing the sword at the bridge for her to go. "Go, go!"

She frowned and he waved wildly for her to leave. Zinnia gave him a final mistrustful look and legged it as Colby, Maximus, and Silas arrived.

The three of them raced to the cornucopia and grabbed their preferred weapons: for Maximus a broadsword, for Silas a scythe, and for Colby a club. Maximus and Silas looked at each other and then charged Colby. Lucian jumped quickly into the battle. Colby swung his club with ease, blocking blows from his opponents.

Orion, Astoria, Tyla, Tupelo, and Willow all arrived in quick succession. Orion grabbed a trident while Astoria tried to shoot an arrow at Colby. Tyla, Willow, and Tupelo all took supplies.

Colby cracked his club into Lucian's head, knocking him down. Maximus took a powerful swing at him with his sword.

Screams rang through the air.

"Max! Max!"

Diamond and Valkyrie were still fighting on the smaller island. Diamond had the sword now, and Valkyrie was trying to hold her off with a backpack and a knife. It wasn't very effective. Maximus grunted. "Later Ten, Nine."

Silas swore as Maximus took off toward the two fighting girls. Colby took another swing at him. Tyla stabbed her spear at Colby, pricking him in the arm. He roared and swung the club, smashing her in the chest and throwing her back. Silas tackled him around the waist, throwing them both to the ground, and roared for his allies to kill him. None of them moved.

Astoria nocked an arrow to her bow, aiming it at Maximus's back.

"What are you doing?" Orion asked. She smiled sweetly.

"Ridding us of two problems."

Before she could fire the ground began to shake and she lost her aim. Chunks of the land on the edge of the biggest island began to fall away.

"What's going on?" Tupelo shouted.

"They're destroying the cornucopia! Like the Games two years ago!" Orion shouted back. He and Astoria ran to the cornucopia to grab backpacks while Tupelo and Willow seized one of Tyla's arms each and pulled her along with them to the nearest bridge. Colby shoved Silas off him and dashed to the cornucopia to grab a bag, a knife, and something else from the floor of the horn.

Meanwhile, Maximus had reached the island where Valkyrie and Diamond were fighting - just as Diamond knocked Valkyrie off the edge.

"V!" he shouted. Valkyrie screamed as she fell. Maximus turned on Diamond. She smiled.

"Well that rids us of that problem."

"You heartless bitch," he growled, and swung for her.

Back at the main cornucopia, Lucian had been forgotten by pretty much everyone. Silas had grabbed a bag and run after his allies, while the twins from Four had dug out some of the best supplies and stuffed them into random bags before bailing out. Lucian stumbled shakily, seeing double as Diamond fought with Maximus. He managed to trip over a small bag at his feet and take it, falling onto a narrow bridge as land fell down around him.

Maximus and Diamond fought until the island began to fall apart around them and a large crack formed between them. They both ran off in different directions.

Lucian was the last of the surviving tributes to stumble from the maze of bridges and collapse on the land of the main arena. Behind him, the cornucopias and the supplies they had held collapsed into the empty air, taking with them the bodies of three fallen tributes.

The One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games had officially begun!

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Whew! So we're through with that! I know it's a bit jumpy in places, moving back and forth between tributes. If there's anything you think is too confusing or can't keep track of, please message me so I can either fix it or explain what went on there.

Other than that, what do you think? Did anything about how it all went down surprise you? Any theories about what's going to happen next?

The arena does have several themes, references, and pretty much whatever else I figured I could shove in there. Quick disclaimer, anything you recognise does not belong to me. Feel free to guess at any themes or inspirations!

Big thank you to Hopps and Dreamer for your reviews of the last chapter.

I will post eulogies at the end of each day rather than the end of each chapter. We're not done yet folks!

 **Alliances as of The Bloodbath:**

Alliance One: Astoria, Orion.

Alliance Two: Tupelo, Willow, Tyla, Silas.

Alliance Three: Oliver, Data, Sierra, Zinnia.

Alliance Four: Maizie, Gadge, Isaac.

Loners: Diamond, Lucian, Maximus, Electra, Kara, Colby, Ash.


	26. Day One

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Eleven Female, Zinnia Kane (17)**

She kept thinking about the boy from One.

He was a Career, a killer.

He let her go.

More than that, he gestured for her to go. He told her to leave.

He could have killed her.

He was a Career after all.

And he chose to let her go.

Zinnia almost felt bad for trying to stab him.

Almost.

She had a split second to decide which way to run. Her alliance was in two halves, three going one way and three the other. She had to decide there and then whether to go with Maizie and Gadge, who were probably the most capable of her allies, or after Oliver, who she trusted the most.

She chose Oliver.

Why did she choose Oliver?

Why the hell did she choose Oliver?

Neither Oliver or Data had managed to get any supplies. They had run from the cornucopia (or as much as Oliver and Data could run) and slowed to a walk after a while. The arena, or at least this part of it, was a thin woodland with trees just coming into leaf and daffodils poking up out of the ground. Oliver pulled down a good sized branch and used it as a crutch. At last they stopped in a small clearing for a rest. Data hadn't said a word the whole time, only hummed and hugged her stomach.

It was, quite frankly, rather unnerving.

Sierra, surprisingly enough, had managed to grab a knife and a large red bag from her small island while the two Career girls were fighting with each other. It contained two bottles of water, an apple, a bag of nuts, a loaf of bread, a pack of crackers, a blanket, and a waterproof jacket, which she pulled on over her onesie.

"Ah yes, the height of fashion," said Oliver. Sierra giggled. Zinnia rolled her eyes.

"Hardly. There must be some reason they've dressed us in these things though." She flexed her fingers inside the large mittens. Sierra began to hack hers off with her knife. Oliver glanced at the sky.

"I'm sure we'll find out."

His onesie, like Zinnia's, was brown, with the District Eleven seal on the shoulders and a cartoon apple. Sierra's was a very ominous black with a cartoon set of bull's horns. Data's was grey, with a gear symbol. Zinnia opened the smaller bag she got from the first pile of supplies. She had been in the same circle as the District Four girl, Astoria, but she kept to her end of the bargain. Or maybe she really was more interested in the Twelve girl. Zinnia supposed she'd never know. They'd probably never meet alive again.

The smaller silver bag contained a box of matches, a thick woollen hat, a pack of crackers, and a packet of jerky. She jammed the hat onto Oliver's curly hair. "Here."

He patted it. "Uh, thanks."

Sierra waved the knife at him and Zinnia reached for her spear.

Why did she choose him?

"You want me to do yours?" Sierra asked, pointing at his mittens. She had cut her own off and tied them to her bag she saw. Oliver nodded and held his hands out.

"Thanks."

Zinnia opened her larger green bag. This one was a jackpot, containing a small tent, a torch, a set of binoculars and night vision glasses, a length of wire, an apple, some bread, more crackers, and a slightly larger bottle of water than Isaac's. She divided up the supplies, repacked them, and tossed Oliver the smaller bag. "You take that."

He frowned. "Are you sure?"

She glared at him. "Of course I'm sure!"

There must have been a reason she chose him over the more capable Maizie and Gadge.

Zinnia just couldn't remember what it was right now.

 **District Twelve Male, Ash Coleman (13)**

He hadn't stopped moving since he ran from the bloodbath. Every time he wanted to stop he reminded himself the Careers or the boy from Ten or the alliance with the pair from Seven could be right behind him and forced himself to keep moving.

He had to keep moving.

This part of the arena was a gentle woodland, and felt familiar enough from when he crept out of District Twelve to lay traps and hunt prey for extra supplies. He had been run-walking for maybe two hours when the cannons fired.

One.

Two.

Three.

Ash listened for more, but none came.

Small bloodbath.

That left an awful lot of tributes still alive, and an awful lot of tributes who could try to kill him.

Ten minutes later he reached what looked like the edge of the arena, an edge that dropped out into open air. Ash hoped it was a steep cliff instead, somewhere he could set up and hide, and dropped to all fours to crawl to the edge and peer over. The land dropped into empty white air. He backed away quickly.

How many tributes would die by falling over that empty edge he wondered?

He returned to the thicker woodland and climbed one of the bigger trees, sitting in a branched fork and resting his red backpack in his lap. He hadn't checked what it contained yet. He opened it and began to dig through. It held a blanket, a blue waterproof hat, a small bottle of water, an orange, a pack of crackers, and a packet of jerky. Ash pulled his bonnet off and put the hat on and took a small sip of water from the bottle. Pulling out the blanket, he began to cut it into strips. It wouldn't work as well as rope or wire, but it would have to do. He needed to start trapping, just like at home, only for bigger prey.

 **District Nine Male, Silas Fields (18)**

It was hot.

It was ridiculously hot.

It was ridiculously damn hot.

Especially in this onesie. Tupelo and Willow had very carefully cut the mittens from theirs with the edge of Willow's axe and rolled their sleeves up, but Silas didn't trust them not to cut his hands off, so his remained. This part of the arena was nothing but tall dry grass that stretched a good foot above his head, making it difficult to see anything of anything. At the moment, Tyla was laid on the ground with her eyes closed while Willow checked her over.

"It is so fucking hot," Tyla grumbled, wiping a hand across her forehead.

"I think some of your ribs are broken. At least here, and here." Willow touched Tyla's chest in two places. Tyla yelled.

"Ow! Well don't make it worse!"

"Sorry."

Silas grunted. "Just what we need. Dead weight."

They'd have to drop her right at the beginning. That only left him with the District Seven lovebirds: not exactly what he was hoping for. Tyla hissed. "I am not dead weight!"

"Right, and what are you going to do for us with several broken ribs?"

Tyla grabbed her spear and pointed it at him threateningly. He pointed his scythe at her. "I do not need dead weight in this alliance."

Tyla pushed herself to her feet. "It's not like I've broken my leg or something. You can keep going with broken ribs."

"So long as they don't compress your lungs," Willow muttered, but neither of them listened to her.

"And once they've seen what we can do, someone might send me some medicine."

"Fine," Silas grunted.

"Besides, it was a small bloodbath this year. There's a lot of big threats still out there. You need me."

"To do what, be an inconvenience?"

"Look, from what we saw at the bloodbath, the Careers have already fallen apart. The Eleven girl's alliance is a bunch of chumps. That leaves us as the strongest alliance in the arena. You need me."

Silas growled. "I won't babysit you, and you better not start whining."

"Done." She began to dig through her bag.

"What are you doing now?"

"Checking out what I've got." She pulled out a large bottle of water and opened it, taking a long drink.

"We need to start hunting."

Tupelo shook his head. "I'm with Tyla, we should check what we have."

All of them had got backpacks from the cornucopia and they had come away with a decent amount of food and supplies, but Tyla's large bottle of water and a slightly smaller one in his own bag were all the water they had.

"We'll have to ration the water and find a water supply."

"We could always drink our pee," suggested Tyla.

"In this weather I think we'd just be sweating it all out," said Tupelo. His bag was only tiny, but he had managed to get a large tent, which made up for it. Silas packed his own supplies, a sleeping bag, set of binoculars, torch apple, roll of bread, pack of crackers, bag of nuts, and the all-important water, back into his bag.

"We should start hunting. We might find another tribute by sundown."

 **District Five Male, Isaac Watt (14)**

Isaac was pretty sure he was in shock.

Kids had died.

Kids were _dead._

He kept shaking.

He kept seeing Sierra's District partner stamp on Calico's neck and kill him like he was nothing.

Calico was dead.

The one friend he'd made in this dreadful place was gone.

He kept shaking.

Maizie held out two plant stalks. "Chew on these. It'll help with the water issue."

Isaac took one and chewed at the end. Gadge frowned at his. "You eat these?"

Maizie nodded. "It's good."

He nibbled the edge. "It tastes like grass."

Maizie shrugged. "Better than dying of dehydration." She chewed on her own. They kept walking. Maizie was too afraid to stop, even in this burning heat. Back in Three they never had heat like this.

Isaac's bag didn't have any water in.

He kept thinking of Zinnia.

Maizie and Gadge hadn't seen because they'd been looking the other way, too focused on escaping across the stepping stones, but Isaac had hesitated and looked back.

And he'd seen Zinnia.

Seen her look at them.

Seen her run the other way.

Seen her abandon them.

He kept thinking of Zinnia.

Both he and Maizie had knives, but Gadge didn't have anything to protect himself.

Kids had died. Three of them. One of them was for Calico, and one for the girl from Twelve who Isaac saw the girl from Four kill.

Kids were _dead._ It was crazy. What were they even doing in a death match? They should all be safe at home.

He held back tears.

He kept seeing Colby stamp on Calico's neck and kill him like he was nothing. He kept thinking that could have been him. He wanted to go home.

Isaac started crying.

 **District Five Female, Electra Balfos (15)**

Electra fled from the bloodbath. She had her life, but nothing else except this stupid costume on her back. Her booties slipped and slid on the muddy ground. This part of the arena was a forest, with huge trees and wet, muddy leaves underfoot. Electra had fallen over twice. Her green onesie was brown with mud.

Why couldn't the arena have been someplace useful, like a power plant?

But nooo, she had to get the muddy, marshy, slippery woodland.

Just her rotten luck.

On top of that, the bloodbath this year had been tiny. That left a lot of tributes who could kill her alive, and could bode for a long Games.

"A little help Elsie?" she mumbled. A weapon might be nice, or some food.

Voices rang through the trees to her left. Electra glanced around and climbed into the nearest tree, scrambling up as high as she could.

The twins from Four passed underneath, both armed and carrying several bags. They wore dark blue onesies, with the District Four seal on their shoulders and a cartoon image of a wave on the front and back. The girl's was splattered with blood up her arms, chest, and neck. Electra held her breath. Where were the rest of the Careers, she wondered?

"-ax! Max!" giggled the girl, waving one arm around. Her brother cracked a smile.

"The look on her face! Certainly fixed one of our problems."

Had the Careers broken up already? They had only been in the arena a few hours! But then Electra thought back. The Careers this year were never that stable. The girl from One and boy from Two got in a fight after the parade and both claimed to be leading the pack during the interview.

Whatever the reason or the truth, this could only be good news for the rest of the tributes.

Electra waited until the two had passed and then climbed down from the tree and began to follow them.

 **District Four Male, Orion Achoda (18)**

Orion wasn't sure what scared him more: the fact that a few hours ago he killed a boy, or the fact he didn't feel anything about it. He was pretty sure he should feel bad, or guilty, or horrified, but he didn't.

And then of course, everything went to hell.

Colby downed Lucian, Diamond tried to kill Valkyrie, Maximus ran to stop her, and the cornucopia started collapsing. All the tributes stopped trying to kill each other to run away.

Orion severely doubted the rest of the pack were still together.

That left him and Astoria. Them against the rest of the world, like always.

"What do you think they're doing back home?" Astoria asked.

"Lyra'll be swearing up a storm. Persues'll be cheering us on. Sirius and Zaniah will be talking about the best way to help us. Ariel won't be watching, she'll be destroying something. And Halley will be trying to control everything."

Astoria smiled. "Sounds about right."

It felt strange, thinking of home. It was so far away.

He was going back with Astoria, or not at all.

A twig snapped behind them. He spun round, clutching his trident. "Who's there?"

No one came forward. A moment later a small bird hopped onto a branch, screeching. Orion glared at it until they were a safe distance away.

"You know what's been bothering me?" Astoria said suddenly. Orion frowned, glancing around them and moving his trident into a defensive position. She touched his arm.

"No, not that brother-mine. The cannons."

"What about them?"

"Well, there were three."

"And?"

"And who's dead?"

"That perv from Six, Valkyrie, and whoever you killed." He indicated the blood staining her onesie. He had panicked when he first saw her after the bloodbath, thinking it was her blood pouring out of her, until Astoria told him it wasn't. She nodded.

"Okay. The boy from Eight, the maniac from Ten killed him." She counted 'one' on her fingers. "Then the girl from Twelve, that was my kill."

"Yes."

"Then the boy from Six, who you killed, and Valkyrie. That's four."

"That is funny. You think one of them's still alive?"

"I don't see how."

"I guess we'll find out tonight. What bothers me most is the boy from Nine's alliance. There are only two of us now, and they're all pretty strong."

"We'll deal with them when the time comes," Astoria said, running a hand down her bow. "For now, there are plenty of other tributes out there."

 **District One Male, Lucian Prince (18)**

Lucian wasn't sure how he escaped the cornucopia. The world was spinning and his head was killing him. The last time he patted it with one hand, his white mitten came away soaked with scarlet blood. He'd been too afraid to try and check the damage since then. He just kept imagining the side of his skull hanging off, only held on by a strip of bloodsoaked skin and the fabric of his white bonnet, which he was scared to take off. What if it was the only thing holding him together?

He hadn't got very far into the arena, stumbling into a ditch in the knee high snow and collapsing there. At least he was out of sight and the biting wind.

He'd let the Eleven girl go. He'd probably saved her life. Lucian was proud of himself for that. He never wanted to kill anyone, and he didn't have to.

He hugged his green bag to his chest and clutched his sword tighter. Maybe when he woke up he'd feel a bit better and could think about what to do.

 **District Six Female, Kara Transson (17)**

Kara had only ever seen snow in story books. Here though it came up to her knees, and it was colder than she ever imagined, accompanied by a bitter biting wind. She stumbled through it, clutching her machete in one hand. At last, when she couldn't see her hand in front of her face, she sat with her back to a dead tree to check what she had in the large bag she grabbed from the big cornucopia. Given how much trouble she went through to get it and how heavy the damn thing was, it better bloody have _something_ useful in it!

The most valuable thing at that moment was the small one person pop up tent. Kara shook it out and crawled inside. It gave her blessed relief from the weather. She began to dig through the rest of her bag's contents. Water, a good amount of food, matches, rope, iodine, binoculars, a torch, and a sleeping bag. No wonder it was so heavy. She packed everything up except the sleeping bag, matches, and the roll of bread.

Would her brothers back home be proud of her she wondered? Probably not. They'd have expected her to make a kill during the bloodbath. It was so damn chaotic she'd never had a shot. She slid the matches into the side pocket of her bag and nibbled at the bread, eating half of it before stuffing the rest in her bag for later. Unzipping the sleeping bag, she wrapped it around herself. The Gamemakers couldn't leave the snow like this for long, the audience would get bored. It would probably clear by the morning, and then she could start acting.

Kara smiled. "Watch me burn Panem. Watch me bring the rest of you bastards down."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

And that's a wrap for now! What do you think of the arena so far? That's not all of it by far, but are there any guesses for this bit? Any predictions for how things will turn out?

Big thank you to Hopps and SongofFete for the reviews. It makes me laugh that I got one review lauding Valkyrie's death and another mourning her within short succession.


	27. Night One

**Author's Note**

I do not own The Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Seven Female, Willow Green (17)**

Things had been tense since the confrontation between Silas and Tyla. Making matters worse was the fact they hadn't managed to find any other tributes and Silas was getting frustrated.

"We didn't get any kills at the bloodbath! We have to get something soon or they're going to think we're worthless!"

"Look, we all know that's not true. We're the strongest alliance left! But it's getting dark, so why don't we settle down for the night, get some rest, and start again in the morning?" Willow suggested.

"No! We have to find someone!"

Tupelo stopped. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm with Willow. I'm sore, I'm tired, I can't see anything through this bloody grass, and I'm stopping here for the night."

"Amen to that," muttered Tyla. Silas turned on her, wielding his scythe.

"If you don't buck up and be more useful, I'm going to turn _you_ into the demonstration!"

She brandished her spear at him. "Bring it on Career boy! Right now I've been as much use as you have!"

"I didn't see you fighting the Ten boy! Oh wait, yes I did: I saw you get your arse kicked by him!"

"Stop it!" Willow shouted. "Stop it the both of you! Or we'll leave this alliance here and now!"

That shut them up.

Tupelo and Silas put up the tent while she started a fire and made a meal for herself and Tupelo from bread and jerky. Silas and Tyla ate from their own supplies and glared at each other across the fire. Willow cuddled close to Tupelo. "I'm sure we'll find someone tomorrow. There are plenty of tributes out there. We just need to give it time."

"We don't have any time," grunted Silas.

"With the Careers gone there's no big competition. Of course we have time."

Tupelo kissed her. "So what's the plan for tomorrow?"

"We wake early. Before the sun rises early. It'll be cooler. We hunt. We can rest at midday, put the tent up, stay cool."

Tupelo nodded. "Sounds solid. I'm in."

Silas scowled. "You better all be in." He glared at Tyla. "Especially you. I want to see you do something useful."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "As Junia would say, I just know I'm going to beat Silas this year."

Willow half-expected him to jump across the fire and beat her to death. When he didn't, she let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. "Who wants to stay up and watch first?"

"I will," Silas grunted.

"Right. I'll take second, and Tupelo can have the last one."

Tyla narrowed her eyes. "What about me?"

"You need your rest."

"Like hell I do."

"You do. You'll be more use."

The Capitol anthem played and Willow leant into Tupelo as the first of the faces appeared in the sky.

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone (18)**

If it was the last thing he ever did, Maximus Darkstone was going to kill Diamond Blush.

He was going to make it slow and painful.

He was going to cut up her pretty face and gouge out her eyes.

He was going to chop off those treacherous hands of hers.

He was going to kill her.

If it was the last thing he ever did, he was going to kill Diamond Blush.

He kept seeing V's face, hearing her screams ringing in his ears.

 _"_ _Max! Max!"_

He should have known it was a bad plan.

He should have told V just to flee the bloodbath, that he'd find her afterward.

He and Diamond had ended up on opposite ends of the main arena when they reached the ends of their stepping stones, and he had been trying to track her all day.

If it was the last thing he ever did, he was going to kill her.

He was going to drag it out and make it hurt.

He was going to cut up her pretty face and rip out her silver tongue.

He was going to rip out her insides.

If it was the last thing he ever did, he was going to kill her.

The Capitol anthem played. Max leant back against a tree and watched as the faces appeared in the sky. First was the boy from Six who bothered Astoria in training. Next up was the boy from Eight, who had been mocked for his fashion sense. Last was the girl from Twelve, who Astoria killed.

That was it.

No Valkyrie.

No V.

At first he thought it had to be a mistake, an error on the Capitol's behalf, and then he thought back and remembered only three canons had sounded. Three cannons for the three faces in the sky.

No fourth cannon.

No V.

No Valkyrie.

She was alive!

But how could she be alive? A fall like that, into vast, open air, it must have killed her! It must have done! There was nothing below for her to land on, and even if she did the impact would kill her!

How could she be alive?

A beeping sounded above his head. He looked up. A white parachute floated down with a large white box attached. It landed in front of him. A large black '2' was printed on top. He ripped it open. Inside was a large bottle of orange liquid, several vacuum sealed Capitol meals, and a note. Maximus grabbed the note first and tore it open.

 _What you seek_

 _Has fallen deep_

 _Be brave_

 _Be true_

 _Keep heart._

 _Take heed._

 _G+J_

Max swore. "What sort of note is this?"

It sounded like something Jasper would write. The three of them were having a good laugh at his expense right now, he was sure of it.

"Keep heart take heed indeed," he muttered, taking the bottle from the box. It was some sort of sweet energy drink. He took a few mouthfuls and then packed it away into his bag, along with the meals. He took the crackers he got in the bag and munched half the packet. He should have had five allies and all the supplies from the cornucopia. The supplies were the decision of the Gamemakers, but the allies…

That was all Diamond's fault.

He was going to kill her.

But first he had a District partner to find.

Before anyone else did.

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda (18)**

They set up camp in a small, muddy clearing. Hardly anything happened during the nights, so they'd be safe to camp for now. Orion had got a small tent from the cornucopia, just big enough for the two of them, and their backpacks contained a good supply of food and other supplies. They divided it all evenly between the two of them and repacked it, getting rid of her smaller silver bag.

For tea they shared an apple, a bread roll, and a packet of crackers, and watched as the anthem played.

"So the brat's still alive," she mused, drumming her fingers against her muddy knee.

"How very intriguing," Orion agreed.

"We left before we saw everything. Maybe she grabbed onto something."

Orion shrugged. "Or Maximus caught her. Doesn't matter either way. Explains your cannons though."

Astoria nodded. "She's a good kid really. Don't see why she volunteered when an older girl could."

"Don't go getting sentimental now. The other tributes have to die so we can go home, remember?"

"Yeah."

"We don't need anyone but each other."

That was why they always planned to abandon the others after all. She swallowed, smiled, and nodded, but behind her eyes she saw the Twelve girl's face as she cut her throat. She had a family, just like them. She had something to fight for, just like them.

Astoria had her blood covering her chest, arms, neck and face like warpaint.

"We do this together," she said, "or not at all."

Not at all was still an option.

"You should get some sleep. I'll keep watch."

"Wake me when it's my turn."

The tent would have been big enough for both of them, but on her own it felt awfully big. Astoria slept fitfully, her nose full of the coppery stench of blood.

Orion's shout woke her. She grabbed her bow, leapt to her feet, and scrambled out of the tent. Orion was wrestling with something on the ground, a mutt, the two of them rolling in the mud and clawing at each other. Astoria nocked an arrow, but if she fired she might hit Orion! Seeing his trident on the ground, she tossed her bow and grabbed it, bringing it down on the creature he was wrestling with. The two fell apart. She slammed the trident down again.

Only then did she realise it wasn't a mutt but a person.

A tribute.

The girl from Five.

She hesitated to bring the trident down again.

The girl stared up at her with frightened green eyes.

Astoria saw Sirius, saw Perseus, Zaniah.

"Please, I can help you. Don't kill me. I can be useful!" babbled the girl.

Astoria looked at Orion, who had drawn his knife.

"We don't need anyone but each other."

 **District Three Male, Gadge Bishop (12)**

It had been scorching hot during the day, but now the sun had set it was freezing. The three of them huddled together under the waterproof jacket from Isaac's bag and tried to stay warm.

It was proving impossible.

Gadge didn't think he'd ever been so cold. He was pretty sure his lips must be blue and his skin white. What were the Gamemakers trying to do, freeze them to death?

He'd seen an early Games rerun once, where they did exactly that. The Victor was the girl from Ten who hid the entire time and killed the second to last tribute, the girl from One, on the third day.

He doubted they would do that again. It wasn't entertaining enough.

He managed to drift into a restless sleep where he wasn't cold and was at school, working on a project to fire little jolts of electricity.

The cannon woke him.

"What was that?" Isaac asked groggily.

"Another cannon," Maizie replied.

"Another tribute dead," Gadge said.

"Oh." Isaac closed his eyes again. Gadge stared at the sky. They wouldn't know who it was until tomorrow evening. Hopefully it wasn't Data.

Data…

She'd escaped the bloodbath.

He knew that, because her face wasn't in the sky.

Where she was now though, was a different matter. Hopefully with Zinnia and Oliver. Zinnia could keep her and Little One safe. Gadge wanted to, but he didn't know how, and he didn't even know where she was right now. She could be at the other side of the arena to him!

He could only hope she was doing okay in all this heat.

He had seen bits and pieces on the talk shows about how unacceptable it was she'd been reaped. Apparently the murder of children and teenagers was fine, but the murder of unborn babies was absolutely not.

He could only hope that cannon wasn't for her.

 **District Eight**

Calico's death came as a surprise to precisely no one, except maybe his family, who were holding onto hope. His class at school held a memorial for him and District Eight mourned, briefly, for another fallen tribute who would never return.

His parents cried for all the time they'd worked and not been with him, while his brother Satin shut himself away and wept for weeks.

He took up swimming in Eight's cracked pool on a daily basis to honour his brother.

Maybe, in a few years' time, he would hear whispers of a rebel group and search for them in memory of his brother.

 **District Twelve**

District Twelve hadn't had a Victor in many, many moons. They expected nothing less than yet another dead tribute. Those Briar sold meat at the Hob mourned her loss and sacrifice and maybe a little more fire burnt inside them than before.

Her sisters felt her absence. Lily took up hunting in the woods and little innocent Rosie had to grow up fast. Their mother refused to eat or drink anything, eventually starving herself to death.

Maybe, in three years' time, Lily Flint would join a rebellion to end the barbarity of the Hunger Games and fall in love with a boy from another District who had inherited his brother's fashion sense.

Or maybe she wouldn't.

 **District Six**

No one mourned Logan Ford. His father's victims had been many, and his bullying targets even more. Paul Ford was been charged with embezzlement and executed in the town square a month after his son. They were buried next to each other.

 **District Five**

There was a lack of focus on Electra in District Five, simply because all the attention was on Mayor Watt's son. Her class held a twilight memorial to the brave girl who took a chance to steal another tribute's knife to kill him and failed. At least she tried, which was more than could be said for many of the past tributes from Five.

Her peacekeeper father and mother, who was a Capitol aide assigned to the Districts, had never realised her name could come out of that ball. They fought bitterly, each blaming the other, while their remaining daughter, Lexie, cried in her room for the sister she felt she never appreciated. In a year's time her parents' marriage would collapse and she would return to the Capitol with her mother.

Maybe, in years to come, she would work her way into government to pass along information to those who would end the Games that killed her sister once and for all.

Or maybe she would die overdosed on morphling.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Okay, I think these end glimpses at the families have made me more upset and teary than the deaths of the tributes themselves! Gosh my feels! I really need to pull myself together…

I promised eulogies, so here we are, our fallen stereotypical tributes:

 **District Eight Male, Calico Weaver (15), killed by Colby Marshall of District Ten**. **Placed Twenty Fourth.**

This was absolutely inevitable from the start. I knew from the moment I started writing Calico was going to go down in the bloodbath. The reason for this is that one of the stereotypes I based him around was the Obvious Bloodbath. He was completely average, with zero useful skills, and even if he toughened up a bit during training, he was still pretty terrible. Also, he was called Calico, which was absolutely a deliberate parody decision.

 **District Twelve Female, Briar Flint (16), killed by Astoria Achoda of District Four. Placed Twenty Third.**

Literally everyone saw what Briar was the moment she was introduced. Even tho she had two sisters, not one, so she was completely original y'all! … No, she was clearly a Katniss-clone. I always had it in mind for her to die in the bloodbath, especially since my other idea was for her to follow what would have been Katniss's plotline, but I didn't know how her storyline would finish if I did that. And then when I thought about things, both Kat- I mean Briar – and Astoria use a bow as their weapon of choice, so it made sense they'd both go for the same thing. It was clearly fate.

 **District Six Male, Logan Ford (16), killed by Orion Achoda of District Four. Placed Twenty Second.**

Logan was created to be that character we see around occasionally, the arrogant bully who is always sexist, often homophobic, and I have seen him (it's always a him) be racist as well. People have pointed out that he also fits the bill for spoilt rich kid and rude guy as well. These kinds of tributes always die in the bloodbath, so of course Logan had to go down here. And, well, he did annoy Orion…

 **District Five Female, Electra Balfos (15), killed by Astoria and Orion Achoda of District Four. Placed Twenty First.**

First off, oh Electra, I'm so sorry. I originally planned for you to go so much further than this…

Electra was created originally to be the Foxface-clone tribute. Beautiful, clever, cunning, uses the Foxface tactics of hiding and stealing. Then I wanted to do something else with her and make her the daughter of a Gamemaker or the President and save her from the arena at the very last moment, but I just couldn't make it work. So yeah, that storyline was scrapped. The peacekeeper parent thing was actually the last thing about Electra to be added, and is a stereotype that used to be quite popular, although honestly we don't see it very much anymore, probably because people have started pointing out that in canon peacekeeper's can't have kids (or acknowledged kids anyway).

Electra just drew the short straw here. I wanted someone else to die, and she didn't have a planned arc. I originally planned for her to go so much further, but this is the Hunger Games, and they can't all live!

RIP Electra.

 **List of Alliances:**

As we've seen, the alliances have… shifted round considerably, so here's the list of alliances and surviving tribute as of the end of Day One.

Alliance One: Astoria, Orion.

Alliance Two: Tupelo, Willow, Tyla, Silas.

Alliance Three: Oliver, Data, Sierra, Zinnia.

Alliance Four: Maizie, Gadge, Isaac.

Loners: Lucian, Kara, Ash, Maximus, Colby, Diamond

?: Valkyrie

Big thank you to Hopps for the review! Reviews are always appreciated, and I do bear in mind what people say.

I have now posted a new poll for who people would like to see as the Victor of these Games! Please do vote, it's all taken into consideration!

Next chapter will see All of the Action, so stay tuned!


	28. Day Two

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

Also, a general warning for this chapter, because Colby's in it.

* * *

 **District Ten Male, Colby Marshall (18)**

So far he'd seen no other tributes.

That didn't matter.

He could be patient.

He'd find someone, eventually.

He got a good stash of supplies at the cornucopia. None of those weaklings could stop him. Amongst them were a thick, warm jacket and a woollen hat to help against the cold in the snow filled arena, and a sleeping bag, which after digging out a shelter he'd slept in last night.

Now that the storm had died down he kept moving. It kept him warm, and he had to come across one of those weaklings eventually.

Colby was hoping for Sierra. He wanted to hear her scream as he had his fun and cut her throat, feel the warmth of his blood on his hands.

He'd never had one so young.

He wet his lips.

Oh, he could hear her already.

After that he wanted the girls from One, Four, Eleven, and Seven.

This was going to be so much fun.

The snow had begun to lessen here, only just rising above his ankles. A few steps later and Colby realised why. He was on an island, like the ones at the cornucopia, only bigger. In front of him the ground dropped away into nothing, but maybe twenty feet away he could see another island, this one filled with trees. Looking to his right, Colby could see a thin bridge strung between them a good distance away.

Well, anything had to be better than this snow.

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

Tupelo woke the others well before dawn. Already the heat was rising and he was sweating. They shared a few sips of water from Silas and Tyla's supplies and packed up the tent.

"We have to find someone today," Silas said.

"I think we should be looking for water," Willow replied. Silas turned on her.

"We should be doing what I say we should be doing, and that's hunting other tributes! We need to show them we're not a joke."

Willow sighed. "Yes, but think about it. We need water, or we're going to die of heatstroke and dehydration. So do all the other tributes. We find a water supply, we find the other tributes. Simples."

Tupelo smiled. That was his clever girlfriend right there! He kissed her on the cheek. "You have the best ideas my love."

She grinned. "Why thank you."

Tyla chewed on a stray lock of her hair. "She's not wrong."

"And how do you suggest we find this water miss smarty pants? In all this?" Silas took a swipe at the long grass with his scythe, cutting down a great swathe of it. "We are hunting for the other tributes and that's the end of it."

"And how do you suggest we find them in all this?" muttered Tyla. Silas glared at her.

"I've already found one. She's standing right in front of me, mocking my decisions!"

"Sounds like someone I'd like to meet!"

"That's enough!" Tupelo shouted. "If we're going to hunt other tributes, let's get going! Before it gets too hot to breathe!"

By mid-morning the heat was unbearable. He and Willow cut strips in the arms and legs of their onesies with their axes, carefully, to provide some air flow. Tyla begrudgingly asked them to do the same for her. Silas refused to let them near him with a weapon, which was fair. Tupelo might just be tempted to drive it into his stomach.

Tyla stopped so suddenly Willow bumped into her. Silas scowled. "What n-"

Tyla held a hand up. "Listen."

They listened.

"-for a bit?"

"We've got to keep moving."

"We've been moving all morning!"

"Then we go some more."

A girl and a boy, it sounded like, somewhere to their right. Silas smiled grimly. "Right. Let's go. I want all of them dead." He gave Tyla a grim look. "And you better keep up and get a kill." He took off running in the direction of the voices. Tupelo unhooked his axe from his belt and followed, the two girls quick behind him.

They were setting off to kill someone.

They were setting off to murder someone.

He was setting off to murder someone.

He was setting off to murder a child.

The thought made him sick.

But then he looked at Willow, beautiful Willow, strong Willow, brave Willow, and he knew what he had to do.

He had to fight.

For her.

 **District Nine Female, Maizie Miller (16)**

Isaac was annoyingly pessimistic today.

About water.

About being hungry.

About water.

About going home.

About water.

About his feet hurting.

About water.

Shit, why were they allied with him?

He was so annoying!

At least Gadge was quiet and clever. Maizie was thirsty too, chewing on stalks for liquid had stopped being effective several hours ago, but they needed to save their supplies.

They were an alliance of one pretty weak sixteen year old, one average fourteen year old, and a scrawny looking twelve year old.

She doubted anyone would sponsor them anything.

Gadge frowned, hesitated, and then grabbed her arm. "Run!"

Maizie ran. "Why are we running?"

Her question was answered a moment later by the pounding footsteps and shouting behind them.

"Careers!" Gadge shouted back. The long grass whipped at their faces and bodies. Her bag bumped uncomfortably on her back.

And then suddenly they were out of the long grass and in open air.

Maizie took a moment to realise why and skidded to a halt, grabbing Isaac's bag before he could run straight over the edge.

They were at the edge of the arena.

There was nowhere else for them to run.

They were trapped.

Maizie drew her knife, because what else could she do?

The boy that charged out of the long grass wasn't a Career. He was wearing an orange onesie like her, with a cartoon wheat stalk on the front.

"Silas," she whispered. Would he kill her? It was usually later in the Games before District partners started turning on each other. Isaac tugged at her sleeve.

"Come on!"

Maizie followed, because what else could she do?

More tributes appeared from the long grass, two in dark green and one in pink. Silas's allies. They were all armed. If Silas didn't kill her they would.

Isaac stopped by a bridge that wasn't really a bridge at all but a tightrope with thin rope handrails at either side leading to woodland on the other side.

"I can't get on there!" Gadge wailed.

"We have to!" Maizie snapped, pushing him in front of her, because what could she do?

"I'll fall!"

"Go!"

He gripped the handrails tight, white knuckled, and stepped out. Maizie followed, and Isaac behind her, but they only got a few steps when Isaac screamed and Maizie felt the bridge jerk. From the corner of her eye she saw Isaac fly backwards. "Hurry up!" she hissed at Gadge. Isaac screamed behind her. Gadge hurried to a run. The bridge jerked again as someone else got on behind them.

They reached the other side at last and Maizie turned to find it was the District Seven girl following them, an axe strapped across her back. Isaac was still screaming at the other side.

Maizie almost felt bad for thinking he was so annoying.

Almost.

Gadge grabbed her knife from her belt.

"What are you doing?"

"I've got an idea." Quickly, he began to saw at the tightrope. Maizie got the idea and began to kick at the post holding the left handrail. The girl from Seven was nearly halfway across, and the boy maybe a quarter. Maizie kicked harder.

Isaac's screaming stopped.

 **District Seven Female, Willow Green (17)**

Silas had dragged the boy from Five off the bridge, but the other two had made it to the other side. One was Silas's District partner, the other the little boy from Three.

They weren't running.

Why weren't they running?

A cannon fired.

Why weren't they running?

They still weren't running!

The bridge swayed dangerously, the rope jerked beneath her feet, and then Willow understood what they were doing. "No! Stop! Don't!"

The bridge jerked again. Willow spun round, carefully, and started back the other way as fast as she could. Tupelo stared at her.

"Go back! Go back!"

He turned and went back.

"What are you doing?" Silas thundered. "Get them!"

Willow held tight to the hand rails, expecting to feel them give way at any moment.

"Get them!"

"They're cutting the bridge!" she screamed back. The handrail to her right jerked violently. Tupelo reached the other side. There was still ten foot between her and solid land.

And the rope gave out beneath her.

Willow screamed.

Tupelo screamed.

She grabbed frantically at the rope as she fell into the open air, holding tight to it. Part of her expected to slam hard into a cliff, but instead she swung out underneath the land. The entire arena was hanging suspended in the air. What they had been on was a huge circular island, like the ones from the bloodbath. In the centre of it was a large cylinder shape leading down. Against her better judgement, Willow gripped her heels to the rope and looked down.

There was land down there, far, far beneath her. Too far for her to make out any features, and far enough that she would go splat if she let go of the rope.

It swung back out, swinging her back and forth like a pendulum.

"Willow!" Tupelo shouted. She looked up. He wasn't actually that far away. "Just hang on! We'll pull you up."

The rope jerked upwards. Willow yelled and clung to it. It was a strange feeling, knowing her life was in their hands. She felt better once she starting bumping against the land of the island and could grab at it. Tupelo reached down to grab her hands. She gripped desperately at him and scrambled against the cliffside. He pulled her up. She collapsed in a heap on the ground. To her left lay the boy from Five in a pool of blood.

"I don't think I've ever appreciated solid land as much as I do right now."

Tupelo gave a teary laugh and hugged her tight. "I thought I was going to lose you."

"I thought I was going to die." She glanced across at the other island. The other two tributes were long gone. Tupelo pulled her feet.

"Let's never do that again."

Silas glared at the opposing island. Willow noticed he had a knife at his waist that wasn't there before.

"We'll follow the edge round. It's better than that damned grass, and there must be another bridge."

Tupelo paused to pull the orange bag free from the boy from Five. "Let's get going. Anything to get out of this heat."

 **District One Female, Diamond Blush (17)**

That little bitch.

This was all her fault.

And she wasn't even dead!

Diamond would kill her.

And she'd enjoy it.

She'd come away from the bloodbath with only her sword, but Blaise had sent her a big bottle of water and a Capitol meal, along with a tiny white bag to carry them in.

It wasn't fair.

She was meant to be leading the Careers right now, hunting down the other tributes, proving her superiority. She was meant to have strong allies at her back. How was she to know the little brat would wail for Maximus?

On the other hand, maybe this was for the best.

Tiara toddled through her Games with the other Careers holding her hands. Diamond had no one. She was fighting this on her own.

She was better than Tiara.

She was.

Her trained ears picked out the sound of voices through the trees.

It was time to prove it.

She crept through the woodland until she could hear their voices.

"Hm. Is there someone back home you've got a crush on?"

"None of your business."

"Oh come on! Lighten up a bit!"

"Fine! Yes, there is. And that's all I'm telling you."

"You're such a stick in the mud. Okay, my turn. I pick… dare."

"I dare you to lick the stick."

Were they… playing truth or dare?

Why were they playing truth or dare?

This was the Hunger Games! They weren't meant to be playing truth or dare!

"How long have you been waiting for that one?"

Diamond crept closer. It was the pair from Eleven, she saw, along with the girl from Ten and the pregnant girl from Three, who was sat a little away from the others, leant against a tree. Easy targets. Diamond crept round to get behind the girl from Three.

 **District Three Female, Data Huxley (18)**

She felt sick.

It wasn't because she'd been thrown into a death match, or something she'd eaten. She'd felt this way since before entering the arena, since waking yesterday morning. Little One was more active, kicking and flipping like a wild animal. She ran a hand over her stomach and hummed softly.

She felt sick.

Something was wrong.

She'd known it for a while now.

Maybe even since before the reaping.

There was something wrong with her, something wrong with Little One.

She knew it, she could feel it. She felt it when they moved and kicked, when the doctor told her how big they were, when she lay in bed next to Sean and he sung for them.

She knew it.

She didn't know what made her move.

Maybe it was just mother's instinct. The sword swung through straight where her neck was ten seconds before. The white-onesie wearing girl on the other end screamed and swung the sword down toward her. Data rolled aside, wrapping her arms around her stomach defensively. Zinnia dashed at her attacker, spear in hand. Data struggled to stand. Sierra and Oliver helped her up. Her attacker was the girl from One, who Zinnia was now fighting with.

"Come on, let's go!" Data shouted, grabbing their arms.

"But- Zinnia!" Oliver protested.

"She can handle herself! Come on!"

Sierra followed but Oliver still hesitated. Zinnia's spear pierced the other girl's shoulder and she screamed, kicking at Zinnia. Zinnia blocked her with the spear, but the One girl ducked underneath and struck out, forcing Zinnia back and back. Blood splattered across the ground. Footsteps pounded through the woods to their left. The other Careers.

"Come on!" she shouted. Oliver shook his head, brandished his makeshift crutch and launched himself at the girl from One, tackling her to the ground.

She would have to leave them.

She was leaving them.

Not for their sakes, not even for her sake, but for the sake of Little One. She couldn't die. She couldn't consign her unborn baby to this fate.

She couldn't.

Then something that must have been nothing short of a miracle happened.

The boy from Two sprinted out of the trees, but he ran straight past her and at Zinnia, Oliver, and the girl from One, roaring. The girl from One immediately took off when she saw him and bolted through the trees. Zinnia jumped away, swinging her spear at him. He went after the girl from One. Zinnia helped Oliver up and pulled him in their direction. "Let's go."

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone (18)**

He'd lost her.

How could he have lost her?

How could he possibly have fucking lost her!

Max had chased Diamond through the woodland for a good while, struggling and failing to catch her, and had finally lost sight of her. He stopped and checked the trees nearby in case she had climbed up. When he found she hadn't, he swore and swung his sword through the nearest bush.

"Damn it!" he screamed. His words echoed around him. He could have taken out the Eleven girl's alliance, easily, but he decided to go after Diamond in the name of revenge.

And now he'd lost her.

 _'_ _Keep heart. Take heed,'_ Grayson and Jeana's note said. But what good did that do him?

He promised V he'd look after her.

He failed.

He promised himself he'd destroy Diamond.

He failed.

He told his family he'd bring them honour.

He was going to fail.

He was nothing but a failure.

He retraced his steps a short way, reminding himself Diamond was still out there somewhere and keeping his sword in his hand.

He ended up walking into the same glade as the girl from Eleven and her alliance. That had to have been set up by the Gamemakers. She brandished her spear at him. "You stay back!"

He held his hands up. "Wait wait wait."

She narrowed her eyes and positioned herself to fight.

"I don't want to fight!"

"Rich coming from a Career."

"The Careers have dissolved."

"What, already?"

"Diamond tried to kill my District partner."

"It's true. I saw them," said the little girl from Ten.

"You're still a Career though, aren't you?"

Max sighed. "Look, I don't want to fight. Can't we make a deal?"

 **Author's Note**

And that's a wrap for Day Two! Thoughts? Feelings? Theories? I appreciate them all! Big thank you to TheAmazingJAJ and Dreamer for your reviews. And just as a reminder, there is a poll on who you want to see as Victor of these Games up on my profile.


	29. Night Two

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Eight Female, Tyla Calico (17)**

They had stopped for the night a little way from the edge. Tupelo and Willow pitched the tent.

Tyla kept remembering the fear and pain on the boy's face as they looked down on him.

She kept remembering the fear and pain as Silas told her to kill him.

She kept remembering the fear and pain as she drove her spear through his chest.

She killed a boy.

She had blood on her hands.

She killed a boy.

All that time she spent preparing, teaching herself, running, boxing, training in sub-standard conditions, all of it meant nothing now.

Because she had killed someone.

And she hated herself for it.

How was she supposed to know she would feel this way? It looked so easy when watching someone else do it, but now Tyla just wanted to throw up.

She didn't, because that would be murder on her ribs.

Damn Colby.

Damn Silas as well, for making her kill the boy and feel like this.

Allying with him seemed like a good idea back in the training centre, when she wanted the strongest allies possible. They weren't her friends: they were just people she could use for their physical abilities. Now though, Silas seemed to be getting more and more unstable.

And they'd only been in the arena two days!

Tyla thought of Velvet, thought of her dying, thought of how much she must have wanted to go home.

A dinging came from above them and a parachute floated down. Silas caught it. A large '8' was printed on the lid. He shoved it at her. "Yours."

She had no intentions of sharing it with any of them. That was something they hadn't done, pooled their supplies. Tupelo and Willow were sharing, but they would. Tyla crouched down, ignoring the pain in her chest, and cracked the box open.

Inside lay two rolls of bandages, a bottle of blue liquid, and a syringe, along with a folded note. She grinned. "Jackpot. Thanks Lacey." She stuffed the note into her bag as Willow walked over.

"You want a hand?"

"Sure. Thanks."

Willow helped bandage up her chest and then studied the bottle carefully before filling the syringe. "You can have a shot every twenty four hours, and a quarter extra eight hours after the first shot if you need it."

Tyla held her arm out. "Just dose me."

She packed the medical supplies carefully in her bag and pulled out the note.

 _Don't start doubting yourself now. You've got it in you. Show the world. Lacey._

Tyla thought of the boy from Five.

She didn't even know his name.

 **District Three Male, Gadge Bishop (12)**

Isaac was dead.

Just like that.

Isaac was dead.

They shouldn't have left him.

He should have got on the bridge first, he was the one to spot it after all. But then either Maizie or Gadge would be dead.

It was strange, to think of one's impending death. When would it come, Gadge wondered, and at the hands of who? The Careers? Maizie's District partner and his alliance, who killed Isaac? The boy from Ten, who killed Calico? Or, even worse, one of his own allies? Maizie even?

He looked at her. She was huddled up against a tree, crying softly. It wasn't sadness or grief at Isaac's death, Gadge knew that.

It was because of who killed him.

Who attacked them.

Her District partner.

"He's home," she whispered earlier. "He's meant to be home!"

Gadge thought about Data. Where was she right now? She was his home, her, and Little One, and the little gear he was wearing on a string around his neck. She probably hadn't even thought of him since they entered this forsaken arena, but he thought of her all the time. He wondered whether any of the other tributes did as well. Could any of them, he wondered, kill a nine month pregnant woman?

Gadge was selfish, he didn't want to die, but he was certain he couldn't do it.

Part of him was hoping to find her and help protect her and Little One.

The other part was hoping one of the other tributes would hurry up and solve the problem for him.

 **District One Female, Diamond Blush (17)**

She knew from the tribute centre she couldn't outrun Maximus, especially over a long distance. He was faster than her. In this condition, she couldn't beat him in a fight either. So she zig-zagged through the trees, hoping to find somewhere that favoured her.

It took her a little while to realise he wasn't even following.

She'd lost track of him, counting on him keeping up with her, and was nervy about the situation at first, but when he still didn't show she felt it must be for real.

Diamond stopped in a small thicket and leant against a tree. Her shoulder burnt. Carefully, she peeled the fabric of her onesie away from it, cursing and swearing. The Eleven girl's spear had pierced her shoulder, leaving a deep and bloody wound.

This certainly wasn't meant to happen.

Diamond was pretty sure it would never have happened to perfect Tiara.

It had been a long time since she wanted to lay down and cry, but right now she just wanted to lie down and cry.

The worst thing was she couldn't, because every second of this was being broadcast live to the nation and she would scupper any chances of getting a sponsor.

Diamond swore again.

That girl from Eleven was officially on her list.

She'd kill her, maybe even before she killed Maximus and Valkyrie. She ought to be easier to take out than them.

A beeping sounded and a parachute floated down to land in front of her. A large '1' was printed on the lid of the box. She opened it. Inside was a wad of gauze, a roll of medical tape, a bottle of antiseptic, another bottle of painkiller, a syringe, and a note. Blaise had been busy. She ripped the note open.

 _Keep going. Don't give up. Be strong. You're a Career, use your head girl! Stop rushing into things! The twins from Four want to go it alone and Lucian's injured, but there are still others you could ally with. Blaise._

Read: he'd used up a ton of sponsorship on this and she had to make herself interesting or there would be no more.

"My thanks to the sponsors," she said.

She cleaned her shoulder up and packed it with gauze. Even with the painkiller it hurt to use. She'd have to push through it.

She was Diamond Blush.

She was better than Tiara.

She was doing this without the usual Career pack to prove it.

She could do this.

 **District Eleven Male, Oliver Farmer (14)**

The anthem made him flinch. One day soon enough it was going to be sounding for him and his face up there. Oliver laid his arms on his knees and waited.

Isaac's face appeared in the sky.

Truth be told, Oliver hadn't thought about Isaac since long before the bloodbath. He and Calico joined the alliance late, and Oliver didn't really speak to them. He vanished during the bloodbath, and Oliver never gave him another thought.

And now he was dead.

His face faded away. Oliver let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding.

Isaac was dead.

A boy who knew, a boy he ate lunch with only a few days ago.

Dead now.

Dead.

"He was one of your allies wasn't he?" asked the District Two boy. Zinnia grunted.

"What happened? Diamond kill him? I didn't see a body."

"None of your business!" Zinnia snapped. The Two boy fell silent. After he told them he didn't want to fight, he suggested allying. They were hesitant at first, unwilling to trust him, but having another strong ally sounded good. Data had retreated back into herself, humming and stroking her stomach. Sierra had fallen asleep propped up against a tree, hugging her teddy to her chest. She reminded Oliver of Sage, which felt crazy considering she was twice Sage's age.

He edged over to Zinnia. "You alright?"

"He was supposed to be with us. It just… feels weird. Would he have lived if he was with us?"

Oliver took her hand. "Maybe. But that's not the point, is it? The rest of us have got to die for you to win."

 **District Two Female, Valkyrie Slate (12)**

V was pretty sure she hadn't stopped shaking since the bloodbath.

When Diamond pushed her she thought she was a goner for sure.

She remembered falling, falling, falling, and then thinking she wanted to live.

She wanted to live.

She grabbed onto what she assumed was one of the tubes the tributes rose up through, holding onto it tight as she slid down down down, digging her elbows into the sides, and at last she stopped falling falling falling.

The cornucopia was a long way above her.

The land was a long way below, but it was easier to go down than to go up.

She half-climbed, half slid down the tube. When the cornucopia came crashing down she assumed she was a goner, that her tube would collapse along with it. V judged the distance between her and the ground, closed her eyes, and jumped.

She remembered once hearing advice to go floppy when one fell a long distance, and went with that plan, cushioning her head with her arms. She fell through trees, and that was almost certainly what saved her by slowing her down. Branches whipped her body and face, and she managed to grab a large one, stopping her fall.

She was bruised, she was shaken, she was hurting, but most importantly of all, she was alive.

She was alive.

She was _alive_.

She was _alive_!

And all the other tributes were far, far, far above her.

So far only five of them were dead.

Slow going.

That section of the arena was all woodland. Yesterday V found one edge, which had a set of stepping stones leading over to a landscape covered in piles of fabric. V pulled a brown square of it free and took it with her as a blanket. She followed the edge around and found another bridge leading to an island full of wheat just before sundown. As the sun set, a parachute floated down to her. It only held a small Capitol meal and a sports drink, but it was the note that was important.

 _What you want_

 _Is up above_

 _Stay brave_

 _Be fierce_

 _Stay safe_

 _No tears._

 _No doves._

 _Hope will find its way home._

 _G+J_

V slept amongst the fabric for the night.

In the morning, from where she was she could see a large metal structure sticking up in the centre of the wheat. She spent the morning walking there. It turned out to be a large staircase. V climbed up, hoping to return to the other tributes.

And Max.

She found at the top of the sixth flight a large metal wall with a door in the middle stopped her going any further. She tried rattling it, kicking it, banging on it, but it stayed shut. From the bottom she could see the stairs went up further, but she couldn't get up there.

She decided to stay close. If they were part of the arena, they were there for something.

 **District Five**

Isaac Watt had been a public figure due to his mother, and all of District Five felt like they knew him. They mourned his death and lamented another year with both their tributes dead.

His mother, who lost her husband many years ago, cried for the loss of her only child, but gradually that grief bittered and hardened into stone. Along with Isaac's best friend and once-crush, Anna, she set out to find others with thoughts like hers and change the world. In the name of her son.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Big thank you to Dreamer for the review.

As a reminder, the poll for who you would like to see as Victor is still running.

 **Eulogies**

 **District Five Male, Isaac Watt (14) killed by Tyla Calico of District Eight. Placed Twentieth.**

Isaac. What can I say? As a character, I liked Isaac, although he wasn't one of the standouts. His stereotype was of course the Mayor's child, which we see too many of to be statistically correct. There were really only ever two options for him: win, or die early. I'd have been happy to see him win, but the truth is, he wasn't connected to any of the big storylines, or planned to be included in any of the upcoming big scenes. That's why he died and both of District Five's tributes are now out of the running for this year.

 **List of Alliances:**

Here's the list of alliances and surviving tribute as of the end of Day Two.

Alliance One: Astoria, Orion.

Alliance Two: Tupelo, Willow, Tyla, Silas.

Alliance Three: Oliver, Data, Sierra, Zinnia, Maximus.

Alliance Four: Maizie, Gadge.

Loners: Lucian, Kara, Ash, Colby, Diamond, Valkyrie.


	30. Day Three

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

Trigger warning for sexual references and language in Colby's section.

* * *

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda (18)**

The arena was rather more boring than she expected it to be really.

They went hunting yesterday, but hadn't found any other tributes since killing the girl from Five.

They did come across a weird animal thing that appeared to be cross between a rabbit and a badger with very large, very sharp front teeth and a big pair of sharp horns for some reason that jumped out of a hole and dove at Orion. He warded it off with his trident and Astoria managed to kill it with an arrow through the eye.

They had weird badger/rabbit hybrid meat for tea last night.

This morning, as they packed up the tent, they were disturbed by the sound of the anthem. Orion frowned. "It's far too early for a feast."

"An announcement then."

Both of them stopped and listened. They didn't have to wait long.

"Attention remaining tributes of the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games!" came the voice of the arena announcer. "You are currently on level one of this year's arena. Below you is level two, and in the centre of your islands you will find the means to get there. The gateways will remain open for twelve hours, but do be careful! There are only eighteen places available on level two! Good luck tributes, and may the odds be ever in your favour!"

"There are nineteen of us left," Astoria said.

"Not for long."

One of them would have to die on the way down.

 **District Ten Female, Sierra Prime (12)**

The arena wasn't as bad as everyone said it would be. It was just like camping in the garden at home with Angus, except in a woodland with her friends Zinnia and Oliver and Data, and her new friend Maximus!

Maximus was… actually a bit scary. Zinnia and Oliver told her not to go near him. Zinnia said he would use that big sword of his to cut her head right off, but Oliver told her not to say things like that, it was scary.

Sierra stayed away from Maximus.

"Right. We need to find that gateway, now," said Zinnia.

Oliver frowned. "How? We've been in the arena for two days and haven't seen anything like that. It's not like the Gamemakers have put in big flashing signs for us to follow."

"Wait here." Zinnia grabbed a low branch and pulled herself into a stout tree, climbing up to the top. Oliver tipped his head back.

"Can you see anything?"

"We want to be that way!" Zinnia shouted back, pointing diagonally right.

Zinnia was a bit scary, but she always knew what to do.

They walked for ages and _ages_ and _ages_. Zinnia kept climbing trees to make sure they were going the right way. Finally Sierra spotted something glowing through the trees.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing. Zinnia frowned.

"I don't know."

"That's okay. I'll go see!" She bounded ahead into the trees.

"Sierra, no!" Zinnia snapped, grabbing the collar of her onesie. "We don't know what it is. It could be another tribute."

"It doesn't look like another tribute," mused Oliver. Zinnia waved a hand at him, Data, and Sierra.

"You three wait here. Two, with me."

They walked through the trees, weapons at the ready, until they reached the glowing thing.

"I don't believe it!" Zinnia cried. Maximus erupted into laughter.

"Is it safe?" Oliver asked.

"Yes," choked out Maximus. The three of them walked on to join them.

The glowing thing turned out to be a neon flashing sign reading 'Gateway' with a large arrow underneath it. Data began to giggle hysterically, pressing her hands over her mouth, and then all of them were laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

"I guess someone heard me," said Oliver between gasps of air. Zinnia stopped laughing long enough to scowl and climb a tree.

"Sign's right, it is that way. Let's go."

 **District Ten Male, Colby Marshall (18)**

Colby wouldn't have put it past the Gamemakers to put that announcement out right as he found the pair from Four.

He wanted that girl.

He had to have that girl.

She was gorgeous, one of the hottest girls Colby had ever seen, even if she was covered in mud and blood.

He wanted that girl.

He had to have that girl.

The boy could be fun too. He'd never had a boy before, and he was pretty. He could have fun cutting up his face and making his sister watch. Or-

Or he could have his fun with the girl and make her brother watch. Knowing that he was helpless, hearing her screams, seeing Colby smile-

He followed them through the gateway at a bit of a distance, like stalking oblivious prey.

He wanted that girl.

He had to have that girl.

 **District Twelve Male, Ash Coleman (13)**

Ash had come close to the Eleven girl's alliance a few times, and seen the boy from Two running through the woods yesterday, but hadn't had any direct confrontation yet.

When he used to hunt outside District Twelve back home, he had often climbed trees to get a better view of the land and keep a quiet eye on his traps. Occasionally he saw Briar out hunting with her bow, but they never talked. Now he climbed up the tallest tree in the area and looked out for any abnormalities. He spotted it to his south west, climbed down, and set off.

He came across the first sign after half an hour and followed them to a large stone arch in the middle of a clearing. There were no other tributes about. Ash wet his lips, glanced this way and that, and darted through it.

It led into a large wooden staircase leading downwards. Ash decided to keep moving before any other tributes arrived.

He clattered down and down and down the stairs, at least seven flights before he lost count, and finally emerged out onto a large wooden landing. It was circular, and he could see three other staircases at equal distances from his, like the points of a compass. In the centre of the landing were four more staircases leading down, each with a different climbing apparatus in the centre: one had a rope, one a swaying rope ladder, one a pole, and one a climbing net. Ash jumped onto the ladder and climbed down as more tributes poured out of the staircases.

Looked like he got here just in time.

By the time he reached the bottom of the surprisingly long ladder many of the other tributes were flying down, some down the staircases, others down the climbing apparatus. A few scuffles had broken out in places.

"Data!" shouted a boy somewhere above him.

"Gadge!" came a reply. Ash glanced around this new landing. There were twelve doors, each a different colour emblazoned with a number and symbol. The yellow one a few feet to his left matched his onesie and had a '12' printed on it below a red cartoon flame like the one on the front and back of his onesie.

If the Gamemakers wanted him to go anywhere, it was there.

Ash ran for the door. He barely had time to take notice of what was behind it before everything above him exploded and he flung himself through.

 **District Three Male, Gadge Bishop (12)**

There were no words for his relief when he saw Data there on that landing.

She was alive.

She was alive and her Little One was safe.

She was alive, her Little One was safe, and she was right there.

Gadge wanted to hug her tight.

She didn't look well.

In fact, she looked terrible.

"Data!" he shouted.

"Gadge!" she cried back. He grabbed Maizie's hand and dragged them over to their remaining allies.

Their remaining allies.

Because Isaac was dead.

Deaddeaddead.

And never coming back.

He tried not to think of that and hugged Data.

Zinnia pulled them apart. "There's no time for tearful reunions, let's get going!"

No one argued.

Isaac might be deaddeaddead and never coming back, but they were alive, and planned on keeping it that way. They set off down the stairs as fast as they could, which for Zinnia, Sierra and Maizie, was fast, and for Oliver and Data was very slow indeed. Zinnia ran back, grabbed Oliver, and helped him over the bannister to grab the pole. "We'll meet you at the bottom."

Unfortunately of course, Data couldn't do that.

And Gadge wasn't leaving her again.

Just like Silas was Maizie's home, she was his.

Her, and Little One.

Little One who was destined to die along with their mother.

"Is Little One alright?" he whispered, because clearly in a life-and-death grudge match that should be his most pressing concern. Data rubbed at her eyes with one hand.

"As alright as they were before entering this fucking arena."

Gadge frowned. "What's that meant to mean?"

They reached the bottom of the stairs and Data never gave him an answer.

Zinnia ran to meet Oliver, grabbing his shoulders briefly and glancing around at all the doors.

"Are we meant to go through the one for our District?" Oliver asked.

If they did, that would break the alliance irreparably. They'd never find each other again.

"Let's find out," said Maizie, and walked up to the door labelled '11.' It swung open at her touch.

"Well, let's not just all stand here like muppets!" Zinnia shouted. "Let's go!"

 **District Nine Male, Silas Fields (18)**

There were still so many tributes alive.

This was their chance to get rid of some.

He tried to look for Maizie and her ally, the boy from Three, but the two were already most of the way down the staircase opposite him with the girl from Eleven and a bundle of others, including the boy from Two.

Never mind. He was honestly surprised she made it this far. There were other tributes, stronger tributes.

Like the girl from Six, who got an Eleven in training and just appeared from the steps opposite them. Silas swung his scythe in front of him. "Willow, with me. You two, see if you can take out any of the others."

He charged around the landing, Willow close behind him, nearly crashing into the boy from One as he did so. Silas swung his scythe at him. He yelled and clumsily blocked the blow, swinging his sword uselessly at Silas's chest. For a Career, Silas expected a better fight. He blocked the blow with his scythe and swung out again. The One boy threw himself on him, sending them both tumbling backwards down the stairs. Silas struggled and wrestled with him. Sticky blood coated his hands, though he wasn't sure where it came from. He'd lost his grip on his scythe when he fell, but the One boy still had his sword and was slamming it against his head.

Silas pulled the knife from his belt and drove it through the boy's back.

He went rigid, gasped, choked.

Silas shoved him off him and ripped the knife out, rolling him over and cutting his throat to make sure. A cannon fired.

Looking around, he spotted his scythe at the bottom of the stairs. Willow, Tupelo, and Tyla were running down to meet him. Silas hacked the backpack free from the dead boy. "Didn't you get any others?"

"I tried for the girl from One, but she bolted," Tupelo said, pointing at the blonde at the bottom of the pole. The floor began to shake.

"Oh, not again..." grumbled Tyla. Willow grabbed her arm.

"I think that's our signal to leave. Come on!"

They ran to the lower level, which was a ring landing like above with twelve differently coloured and labelled doors. The girl from One darted through the one labelled with a '1.'

"Which one?" Tyla shouted over the noise.

"I don't think it matters!" Tupelo shouted back, and dragged them all to the door labelled '10.' It opened for them, so it didn't matter, and they ran through to the fresh, cool air on the other side.

 **Author's Note**

Alright so here we go! I get to show off just how ridiculous arena building and designing can get!

I don't think I don't think anyone guessed it, but level one was based on the seasons! You used to see this around a lot for arenas, so I thought it would be kinda obvious, but I've never been the best at descriptions. The 'island' Lucian and Kara were on was winter, Zinnia's alliance was on spring, Silas's alliance was on summer and Astoria and Orion were on autumn. The next part of the arena does have a new theme, so you can guess at that one when it's revealed if you like!

Big thank you to Hopps and Dreamer for your reviews!

I have now closed the poll on who you think should be Victor, which I'll admit got some results I wasn't expecting, and started a new one on who you think should be in the top twelve. You can vote for up for twelve tributes, so have at it! I'm writing ahead, but I am taking note of the poll results, so please do vote.


	31. Night Three

**Chapter Thirty One: Night Three.**

 **Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

I'm sorry for the delay. Updates could slow to a crawl at the moment. Even though I have the next few chapters written, I've been so busy in real life that I haven't even found the time just to update.

* * *

 **District Nine Female, Maizie Miller (16)**

When they were separated from their allies at the bloodbath, Maizie assumed they would never see them alive again.

This was the Hunger Games after all, and the arena was big. They wandered in that high grass for what seemed like eternity, and all they found was imminent death.

Part of her still couldn't believe they were back with the rest of their allies.

All too soon she would wake up and it would just be her and Gadge – if Gadge hadn't ditched her useless self.

The door they entered led onto – guess what! – more stairs.

Great.

Just great.

They made their way down the stairs, because what else could they do?

There were no shortcuts this time, no poles or ropes for Oliver, and so he had to limp after them, struggling down the steps. The good news was that none of the other tributes except the boy from Two, who Oliver said was allying with them, had come through this door, so they didn't have to worry about them right now.

It got hotter the further down they got. Why did this arena have to be so damned hot?

At last they reached the bottom. Unlike the last part of the arena, it was open, with large trees bearing fruit and a light breeze, even if that breeze was warm. Oliver frowned. "It's home."

Zinnia scowled. "It's not home. We're still in the arena."

"I know that. But it's been made to look like District Eleven, hasn't it?" He and Zinnia were the only ones that would know that. He stared at the fruits hanging on the trees. "You think those are edible or been made poisonous?"

Zinnia shrugged. "They'd be edible back home. Let's get away from those stairs first."

They walked for maybe half an hour before finding a circle of low mud huts with straw roofs.

"Inaccurate," muttered Zinnia. Oliver shook his head.

"We're not savages."

They sent the boy from Two, Maximus, into the huts one by one to check whether they were safe, and Zinnia scouted around, finding what looked like a tap with a handle on the back sticking out of the ground. She pumped the handle a few times and water trickled out. All of them with water bottles refilled them eagerly. Maximus told them the huts were empty of tributes, mutts, and anything else. They set up camp in the biggest.

Maizie wasn't sure if she felt safer or not.

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

They knew allying with Silas could be risky from the beginning. They even made a contingency plan for it. They couldn't trust him as far as they could throw him.

He was a strong ally though. He wouldn't betray them as long as they didn't betray him, and theirs was undoubtedly the strongest alliance left, even at this early point in the Games.

Tupelo just didn't know what to do.

On top that there was Willow.

Beautiful, brave, powerful, loving Willow. The most wonderful person he'd ever met. The only person he was sure he could ever love. His one true love, his soulmate.

The woman he was in a death match with.

For one of them to escape, the other would have to die.

It was so incredibly unfair.

"-stepping up our game," Silas was saying. "Killing the Career from One should win me some points, but it's not enough. We're the strongest alliance left, we need to prove it."

"Well, at least this part of the arena should be easier to find other tributes in," said Tyla. She wasn't wrong. This section of the arena consisted of wide, open green fields, occasionally with a battered fence across. A few animals, cows, sheep, and goats, milled about, munching on the grass.

"And we've got food if we want it," said Willow. Tupelo nodded.

"I vote for killing one of those animals and smoking some meat. It could feed us for a few days if we're lucky."

"We need to hunt tributes, not animals!"

"Yes, and in order to hunt tributes, we need to not starve to death in the meantime. I say we kill the animal," said Tyla. Willow grinned.

"Which one then?"

They picked a goat. It was harder than the men Tupelo had seen slaughtering animals back home made it look, but eventually he managed to get it pinned down and the girls hacked it to death.

Dealing with the meat was harder than they expected too, but at last they hacked off several good cuts and smoked them over a fire. It was smoky and slightly burnt, but it filled their bellies. Tupelo looked at Willow, streaked with blood, gore, and dirt, and wondered whether she looked that beautiful at the reaping.

 **District Two Female, Valkyrie Slate (12)**

V had heard the announcement and wondered whether it meant what it sounded like it meant. She climbed down from the stairs and hid amongst the wheat, but no tributes came down from above. That night, however, as the sun was setting, she saw smoke rising up in the distance.

"So there are other tributes here now."

 _Max._

V was beginning to think that she shouldn't have ended up down here in the first place. Probably she was intended to have fallen to her death, and just so happened to get lucky. Now though, she would be able to find what remained of the pack after Diamond betrayed them and start actually doing something.

A beeping sounded above her head and a parachute floated down into her lap. She ripped the box open and grabbed the note from the top.

 _Hope_

 _Has a habit_

 _Of finding a way_

 _Remember what you have_

 _Awaiting._

 _G+J_

V stuffed it into her bag. Also in the box was a large bottle of water and a small belt of five throwing knives. V drank the rest of the water in her small bottle and packed the large one into her bag, fastening the belt across her chest. She drew one of the knives and twirled it between her fingers.

 _Remember what you have awaiting._

 **District Ten Male, Colby Marshall (18)**

If only he found the Four tributes while they were still in the woodland.

This part of the arena though, favoured them. It was all frozen lakes and deep ponds, rushing rivers and water. Colby had to keep a good distance, and even then they seemed to sense he was following.

But he wanted them.

Fuck he had to have them.

So he stayed back, and he followed, and watched, and waited. There would be an opportunity, he knew it.

He had to have them.

The Gamemakers would give him an opportunity.

Colby wasn't stupid like many believed. The Capitol and the Gamemakers wanted a good show. They knew he would give them one. If they gave him what he wanted – gave him them! – he would give them what they wanted.

He wanted those twins.

He had to have those twins.

 **District One Female, Diamond Blush (17)**

It was getting dark, but she made the decision to keep moving, mostly because if she stopped she might end up accidentally stabbing herself in her sleep. This part of the arena was beautiful, with clear, glittering green grass, yellow flowers with tiny diamonds in the centre, and large marble statues.

It would have been incredible, if not for the fact everything seemed to be out to get her.

It was all hard and sharp edges, like glass, pricking her skin and drawing beads of blood. Only the paved paths were safe. If she strayed from those, the grass would cut through her booties – it had already sliced one to shreds – and stab into her feet. And she couldn't sleep on the path, because she'd be an open target to any other tributes or mutts that happened to be around.

So she kept moving even as the last of the sun faded.

Once it had the anthem rang out. Diamond paused to lift her head and watch. She'd heard the canon earlier, one tribute had died on the way down.

Part of her hadn't expected which tribute it was.

Granted, she hadn't even thought about Lucian since the disaster of the bloodbath, but now he was dead, and so early too.

Lucian was dead.

She, Diamond Blush, was District One's remaining hope for these Games.

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone (18)**

All he could think about was V.

Grayson and Jeana's note said she fell deep. Had she ended up here somehow, on this level of the arena, or was she further down yet?

His unconventional allies had taken one of the huts to rest in. Zinnia was sitting watch in the doorway, her spear laid across her lap. Since the pump was there they had a supply of water, and since the fruit was edible after all they had a supply of food.

It would be a good place to stay, a logical place to stay.

It was even quite nice.

But then there was V.

Precious, fierce, brave, strong V, V who volunteered at twelve, V who only wanted to look out for her sister.

That V.

There was a beeping from outside. Through the doorway Max saw a parachute float down.

"Guard the door Maizie," said Zinnia, picking up her spear and stepping out. Maizie was the girl from Nine it seemed, and took Zinnia's place. Zinnia poked the parachute with her spear. "It's for you Two."

Max walked out to join her. The box was smaller than the others he received, and he wondered if his siblings were starting to run low on sponsorship already. He ripped it open. Inside was a light grey jacket and a small bottle of iodine with a note on top. He grabbed the note.

 _What you seek_

 _For you peeps_

 _Keep heart_

 _Take heed._

 _G+J_

"Thanks guys, still not much help." He imagined they were sat somewhere watching him and having a good laugh at writing these cryptic poems for him. Was V getting these too or were they deliberately trying to sabotage him? Then again, that couldn't be it, because they wanted him to find V as much as he did, surely. He sighed and packed the new supplies into his bag. "Can we part ways amicably?"

Zinnia narrowed her eyes. "Why, so you can stab us in the back tomorrow instead of today?"

"No, because I need to leave and find my District partner. She's down here somewhere."

"You could stay and we could look for her together!" chirped the girl from Ten. Max shook his head.

"No, ah, I'm good. I'll pass on that thanks."

Zinnia rolled her eyes. "Suit yourself Two. But if you're going, get going." She jabbed her spear at him. "I guess the next time we'll be on opposite sides."

Max wet his lips. "I guess we will."

That was an odd thought. He hefted his bag over his shoulder, picked a direction, and started to walk.

Hang on V.

I'm coming to find you.

 **District One**

In District One, there was a ceremony to honour their fallen volunteer, as always.

No one there mentioned how much he hated the Games, or how little he wanted to volunteer in the first place.

His parents, like the parents of all fallen Careers in One, would wear black for a month, while his sister's wore purple. Even if their parents ignored the reality, they remembered how Lucian truly was, what he liked and what he wanted.

Given time, one by one, they too would grow to hate the Games and the way they ate up the beautiful tributes from their District year after year but very rarely gave them back afterwards.

Maybe, given a little longer, they would find someone willing to listen and the first seeds of discontent would start to grow for the first time in many years in District One.

* * *

 **Author's Note.**

There we go, the end of Day Three. Technically speaking the chapter title is wrong for this one, as it wasn't all set during the night, but I wanted the events going down levels to be their own chapter, and after that I just didn't have enough material to make a second day chapter and a night one, so I merged the two.

A big thank you goes out to bELLie590 for your follow, favourite and all the reviews, and to Hopps for your review!

 **Eulogies**

 **District One Male, Lucian Prince (18), killed by Silas Fields of District Nine. Placed Nineteenth.**

I might have been a little unfair to Lucian. His trope was, of course, the ever-unpopular unwilling Career. Now, a Career getting cold feet or being peer pressured into volunteering is one thing, and could be done well, but I have seen characters like Lucian, who are quite literally forced to volunteer, written seriously. I hate it, so there might have been some bias in his placement. Let's face it though, he was doomed from the moment he got that injury from Colby, it was all just a matter of time. On top of that, I didn't have any long term plans for him: once he entered the arena it was all up to fate and chance, and it ended up being his fate to be killed early by Silas.

 **Alliances as of the end of day three.**

Alliance One: Astoria, Orion.

Alliance Two: Tupelo, Willow, Tyla, Silas.

Alliance Three: Oliver, Data, Sierra, Zinnia, Maizie, Gadge.

 **Loners:** Diamond, Colby, Kara, Valkyrie, Ash, Maximus.


	32. Day Four Part One

**Chapter Thirty Two: Day Four Part One**

 **Author's Note**

I do not own The Hunger Games.

 **District Eleven Female, Zinnia Kane (17)**

Zinnia um'd and ah'd over leaving the safety of the huts they found in the place that reminded her of home. It was safe there, part of her argued, couldn't they stay for a day and leave tomorrow? Maybe some more of the tributes would have died by then.

And maybe one of those tributes would be one of her allies.

Maybe one would be her.

It was that thought that made her move. The Gamemakers didn't like inactive tributes, they bored the audience. So they filled their bottles, packed their bags with fruit, and set off through the artificial orchard, munching on some of the fruit as they went. Data hummed softly and swayed side to side. Gadge tugged at her arm. "Are you alright?"

Data didn't answer. Gadge tried a few more times and then came to ask Zinnia.

"She's been like that since the bloodbath. There're moments of lucidity, but mostly…" She jerked her thumb at the pregnant girl. "Like her mind's gone."

It had gone through Zinnia's head to chuck her out of the alliance more than once. She was slowing them down, they would be better off without her.

Their alliance would be better off without her.

But somehow she couldn't bring herself to do it.

She was no help, that was true, but at the same time she was doing them no harm. Zinnia doubted she could survive on her own, and she didn't want that on her conscience. It was one thing to outright kill someone, but it would be another to abandon her to her death. Gadge went back to trying to get her to talk.

It took them four hours or so reach the edge of the arena, or the edge of this island anyway. Like the level up above, this one consisted of islands. From where she was Zinnia could see four more, two to either side.

"There's probably twelve," Gadge said. Everyone looked at him. He shrugged. "Twelve doors when we were coming down."

"We'll go to that one," Zinnia said, pointing out the nearest island, which seemed to consist of open green land.

"Why?" asked Sierra.

"Because I said so, that's why! We'll go to that one. Let's go."

 **District Four Male, Orion Achoda (18)**

"Is he still following?" Astoria whispered. Orion spared a glance at the deep water, studying their reflections.

"Yeah."

They first noticed the boy from Ten following them the night before. He wasn't very good at being subtle, or maybe he just wasn't trying. Either way they could see him, and by the fact he was following, he could see them.

"Fuck."

Orion quite agreed. If there was one tribute in this arena he didn't want to try his chances with, it was that monster from Ten. Everyone had seen what he could do. By the time they were leaving for the arena there had been rumours flying that he might actually be an angry bull disguised as a human being.

"If you keep his attention on you, I can loop round-"

"No."

"I wouldn't want to take him in close combat, you saw what happened during the bloodbath."

"Which is exactly why we're not splitting up. If worst comes to worst we'll dive into the water. That's our advantage."

"And if there are mutts down there?"

Orion leant down and scooped up a handful of stones. Knowing his intentions Astoria did the same and they began to skim them across the water. "It doesn't mean anything. The Gamemakers could release them once we're in there."

Orion glanced back at the boy from Ten. The thin paths of land and stone they were walking on were getting narrower and narrower.

"I don't think they would. They'd rather have a show down between us and him."

Astoria shuddered. She wrapped her fingers around the handle of her bow. Although she was trying to hide it, Orion knew the signs of distress.

"What is it?"

"I saw clips from some of the news shows while you were with your stylist. They think he might have been behind the disappearance and murder of some young women in his District. Some of them were… beyond recognition."

Orion clutched his trident a little tighter. Behind them the Ten boy had stopped any pretence at hiding and was walking along the path.

"You ready for a swim?" Orion asked. Astoria tugged at their heavy gear.

"Not really, no."

If they dove in with this, they could end up pulled under. If they didn't they could end up killed by a mad boy.

Not much of a choice.

The water stretched out around them, maybe two hundred metres. At the other side Orion could see land and what might be a bridge leading to buildings in the distance.

"If we reach there, we can lose him in that lot," Astoria said. Orion nodded. Good plan. Solid plan. Same plan that had occurred to him.

The path ended.

Laughter rang out from behind them. Orion spun round and gripped his trident defensively. "What's so funny Ten?"

"Did you two think you could run from me?" He spread his arms out. "You've got nowhere left to run."

Astoria grinned. "That's where you're wrong." Then she threw herself sideways into the black waters of the arena.

 **District Nine Male, Silas Fields (18)**

He would prefer to have found a tribute last night, but he had to agree the meat from the goat thing they found was good and filling.

"Now we hunt," he said. They had to find other tributes. There were still fourteen more besides them out there. They all had to die before Silas could take victory to District Nine.

Oh, he knew they four wouldn't be the ones to kill them all. Some would fall to others, Careers, mutts, or the dangers of the arena. But they needed to take out some. It was too early in the game for District Nine not to be seen as a threat.

He had to make a name for himself.

The Careers already had their reputation, the Capitol already loved them, but District Nine was known better for weakling tributes like Maizie. He would have to prove himself time and time again in these Games if he wanted to be taken seriously, and then he would have to pick one of the younger teens back home who had taken up training half-heartedly to follow him. Once District Nine had two good strong Victors Panem would take them more seriously.

Tyla took another shot of painkiller.

"How much you got left?" Willow asked. Tyla shook the bottle.

"Another couple of days I think."

And then she would be useless again. They could keep her around for those couple of days while she'd still be useful, and then he could take her out. It would be another competitor gone and a thorn removed from his side.

Physically Tyla should have been a good strong ally, mentally she was tough, but personality wise she was nearly unbearable.

"Maybe you should start taking half doses. It'll last longer and be less of a shock when you run out."

Tyla nodded. "Good plan. I like it."

Tupelo lowered his hand from his eyes. "Tributes. Over there." He pointed to their right. Silas smiled. Showtime.

"Let's go."

He led, the other three jogging behind him. This land was so open that there was no way they could sneak up on the other tributes, so it would be a case of chasing and fighting.

It was only as they got nearer that he could see it was Maizie's little alliance of weaklings, and that she was amongst them.

Perfect.

 **District Ten Male, Colby Marshall (18)**

He wanted them.

He had to have them.

He never even noticed them at the chariot rides or interviews, never noticed how beautiful they were, but _now_ , all covered in blood and filth, they had a wild sort of beauty he needed to own and beat out of them.

He needed them.

The boy plunged into the water after the girl, their shadows moving under the surface. Colby hesitated a moment. He hated swimming, hated deep water, and he could find them again. He doubled back to go the way he came. There had been another land path leading the same way the two were swimming. He would be behind, but not so far that he couldn't catch up. He hadn't been wrong. They couldn't run from him. They had nowhere left to go.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Big thank you to Dreamer for the review and the shoutout on the forum!

Just as a reminder, the poll on who you want to see in the top twelve is still running!


	33. Day Four Part Two

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

Big thank you to TheLlamaLord for the follow and favourite and to Hopps and Dreamer for the reviews!

* * *

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

Most of the alliance looked so young. If he remembered right, two of them, the girl from Ten and the boy from Three, were only twelve.

They were so young.

He was expected to kill them.

It had gone through his head more than once on the run to drive his axe into Silas's back instead. He could do it. He could do it now. Then they could leave Tyla and it would just be him and Willow.

Beautiful, brave Willow.

Beautiful, brave Willow who was about to run headlong into a fistfight.

The other tributes ran – or in the case of the boy from Eleven and girl from Three, hobbled and hurried – as soon as they saw them.

He didn't want to do this.

All too soon they were on top of them. The girl from Eleven and Tyla sparred with their spears. Silas's District partner tackled Willow to the ground. The boy from Eleven jabbed at him with the makeshift crutch he was using and the boy from Three hit at him from the left.

Tupelo really didn't want to do this.

The girl from Eleven had slammed the blunt end of her spear into Tyla's chest and knocked her off her feet. She lay on the ground, clutching her ribs and gasping for air. The Eleven girl raised her spear. Tupelo forced her District partner aside and brought his axe down on her weapon. It shuddered and landed off course, though it remained whole.

Meanwhile, Silas had shoved his District partner off Willow with the handle of his scythe and was swinging it at her while she dodged here and there. She tripped, falling back, and Silas raised his scythe.

Then there was a scream and a blonde streak hit him, grabbing onto his arm and sinking her teeth into it. He yelled and dropped his scythe. The District Nine girl grabbed it and scrambled back. Tyla grabbed at her but the girl elbowed her in the stomach and leapt to her feet.

Silas drove his knife through the Ten girl's chest.

Blood spurted everywhere. The boy from Eleven shouted 'Sierra!' The girl from Nine screamed.

Everything exploded into movement. Silas dove at his District partner, Willow leapt to help Tyla, and the tributes they'd been hunting scattered, bolting over the bloodstained ground. Silas took a frantic swipe at his District partner as she ran away and then it was all over.

The girl from Ten was still gulping for air on the ground. Silas kicked her, pulled his knife free, and stabbed her through the neck. A cannon fired.

She was twelve.

She was so young.

She looked younger.

Was that a teddy bear sticking out of her bag?

She was dead.

Dead because of them.

Silas grunted and kicked her body for good measure then looked around himself. "Where's my scythe? You better not have-"

"She took it. The girl, your District partner."

"And you let her?"

"We were otherwise occupied."

Silas swore. "One little girl. We should have taken out others, the Eleven boy at least. Why didn't you three get any?"

"I was busy," spat Tyla.

"Me too," agreed Willow.

"Me too," thirded Tupelo. Silas roared and kicked the dead girl yet again before taking her knife and rifling through her backpack. There was a little food, a full water bottle, a blanket, and a jacket. Silas stuffed them into the larger of his own bags. None of them argued over the distribution of supplies.

"Let's get after them," Silas grunted.

Tupelo glanced at Willow and saw his concern mirrored in her eyes.

This was getting out of hand.

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda (18)**

The water was cold.

Colder than she expected.

Much colder than District Four.

She swam through the water with powerful kicks, keeping her eyes open for threats or mutts. Orion swam slightly behind and to her right. Her lungs burnt and her heavy bag threatened to drag her under, but she forced herself to bear it, to keep going.

They were nearly in the centre of the lake before she had to come up for breath, gulping in air. Orion's head bobbed up next to hers. "He didn't follow us."

She squinted at the shore, picking out the boy from Ten's figure as he moved around the edge. "Still there though. Come on, let's get out of this water before we attract something and get too cold."

Orion agreed.

They scrambled out at the other side, dripping wet and chilled, but safe and unharmed.

Until Orion pointed out a shadow much too close for her liking. "Still following."

"Fuck damn it, what is it with him?"

"Come on."

They found a bridge leading over to the buildings they saw earlier, a set of wooden planks strung together with cord and two ropes either side for railings. When the other option was the boy from Ten, they decided to use the bridge.

Closer up it could be seen the buildings were crumbling ruins, huge structures with large, round chimneys. Barbed wire was wrapped around them in a few places.

They didn't need to speak to know to keep moving. It would keep them warm and put distance between them and that maniac from Ten.

"There are more hiding spaces around here," Astoria said. "We could lay a trap."

Orion glanced around and this time she could see him considering the options. "What do you suggest?"

"I'll find a vantage point. You lure him in, I'll shoot him. Once he's injured, you can finish him off."

Orion licked at his lips. "You need somewhere high up, out of sight."

"These buildings would be perfect." She glanced behind them. There was still no sign of the boy from Ten.

"We've a little time to set it up."

"Let's do it."

 **District Three Female, Data Huxley (18)**

Sierra was dead now.

Sierra was dead just like she would be.

Sierra was dead just like Little One would be.

Sierra was dead.

Having Gadge back with her cheered her a little. He held her hand, a solid link to home, and stayed firmly at her side.

She could trust him, unlike any of the others.

She wasn't sure how they escaped the other tributes, the ones that killed Sierra, but they weren't following anymore.

It felt like some sort of miracle.

Oliver hadn't stopped crying since the attack, and Maizie was sniffling and nursing her wounds.

"Maybe this alliance is too big," Data whispered to Gadge when the others were preoccupied.

"Too big?"

"That's twice we've been attacked by other tributes and twice we've narrowly escaped."

"This is the Hunger Games. You know tributes attack other tributes. And with a bigger alliance we have more protection. Even without Sierra we're probably one of the biggest alliances left now the Careers have split up."

It had a logic to it Data couldn't deny.

"Statistically speaking larger alliances tend to get further."

"They also tend to rip themselves apart. Remember the One Hundred and Twenty Seventh?"

There was an alliance of nine tributes during that Games that made it to day five before turning on each other. Five of them died, one was badly injured, and the remaining two died soon after.

"We won't end up like that."

Sierra was already dead though. Data kept seeing her face whenever she blinked, her blood spurting outwards as the knife slid through her chest.

Sierra was dead just like she would be.

Sierra was dead just like Little One would be.

 **District Ten Male, Colby Marshall (18)**

They were here somewhere.

They had to be.

The last island was too open for them to have doubled round, while this one was full of places to hide. They were here somewhere. He knew it. Colby was almost tempted to shout 'come out come out!' for them. Instead he whistled softly and kicked his way through the wasteland.

They were here somewhere.

In places he saw drying footprints and puddles of water. They'd left him quite a convenient basic trail. It was like hunting animals, except these animals were intelligent and gorgeous.

He spotted one of them between two of the buildings making a bad attempt to hide and wring the water from those ridiculous booties the Gamemakers had given them. Colby smiled, hefted his club, and charged.

It was the boy, he realised as he got closer. A good strike to the head would do it for now then, and then he could tie him up with the rope supplied in his backpack.

Something pierced his shoulder. He grunted with the pain and grabbed at it, finding it to be an arrow sunk several inches into his shoulder. The boy thrust his trident at him. Colby blocked it with his club and swung at him. Another arrow shot past his face. That pretty girl must be hiding somewhere and shooting at him. He slammed his club into the boy's arm, knocking him aside. He twisted at an impossible angle and raised his trident between them, stabbing it at Colby. He grabbed the handle before the prongs could pierce him more than half an inch and yanked the boy forward, cracking his club against his head. There was a scream from somewhere above. An arrow clattered past him. The boy threw himself at him, tackling him against the wall and slamming his fist into his face. Colby kicked him back. The two of them wrestled and punched at each other. Pain flashed across his side. A heavy weight hit him, knocking him to the ground. The one blue figure became two, the second grabbing the first and pulling them away. Colby roared. They were getting away! The girl grabbed the trident and blocked his club, driving it into his arm before fleeing with her brother.

Colby slid to the ground, coated in their blood and his. He grinned. This would be more fun than he thought it would.

 **District Eight Female, Tyla Calico (17)**

They had been beaten and bested by a bunch of mooks.

At least she could take some pride in it being the District Eleven girl who beat her, a fairly strong tribute and very good at smacking her with a spear. Tupelo was bested by a boy with a bad foot and a twelve year old. Silas was very nearly bested by the tiny girl from Ten.

Until he killed her.

He was still stained in her blood, scarlet staining his orange onesie. Tyla remembered lying on the ground as blood spurted out from above her and lying beside the girl as she choked for air.

Tyla wanted to live.

She spent all those years preparing and training just in case this worst case scenario happened because she wanted to live.

But the Games had turned her into a killer, and the screams as that girl died would haunt her for however long she happened to live.

The four of them sat huddled around their fire, chewing on more of the meat from yesterday. It might last another day, not much longer.

"We'll catch up with them tomorrow," Silas was saying. "I want my scythe back from that little bitch for a start. We'll make them pay for embarrassing us."

Tyla nodded along. She wanted to live and going on the offensive seemed the best way to achieve that.

A beeping came from above and a large parachute floated down, landing to Silas's left. A large '9' was printed on the box. He opened it. Inside lay a new scythe, bigger than the other one, made of shining dark wood and glittering metal. Silas smiled as he lifted it out and swung it experimentally through the air.

Great.

Now the madman had a bigger, shinier weapon.

"My thanks to the sponsors. Your trust and generosity hasn't been misplaced," Silas said happily. Tyla clenched her teeth and looked over at Tupelo and Willow. They were oblivious to the biggest danger to them right now, their arms wrapped around each other and their lips locked. Tyla groaned.

"Can't you two get a room? Or a tent?"

"Don't look if it bothers you."

Tyla rolled her eyes and looked to Silas, who was still practising with his new scythe. She had prepared for this. She didn't want to die. She wanted to live.


	34. Night Four

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

I feel like I owe a little bit of an explanation for vanishing from posting/reviewing. Life has just been super busy at the moment and I've had a lot of work to do, so I've kinda just been writing where my inspiration goes and playing on and off with a couple of other ideas. I do have some good news though, and that's that I have now got this roughly planned and a Victor in mind, and there should only be another six to eight chapters on top of what I've already got written. So all I have to do now is actually sit down and write it.

Wish me luck…

* * *

 **District Twelve Male, Ash Coleman (13)**

If he had to guess, Ash would say this part was based on his home of District Twelve. Or at least the Capitol's idea of it. It consisted of hard terrain, rough, scrubby ground littered with what appeared to be mine entrances. Some were boarded up, others were holes in the ground that several times he nearly fell down.

This was a whole new vision of Hell, dressed up to look like his home.

He wondered if they did it deliberately to torment him.

The night before he had set up his traps and then climbed into one of the mines for the night. Tonight he planned to do the same. He'd caught, nor seen no tributes since he got down here, but he had caught several undersized rabbit creatures which were good for eating. This island was a good spot then, even if he could see another one on one side with tall trees that looked designed to entice him in.

No.

Ash would rather stay home.

It was safe here. Well. Safe enough. As safe as one got in the Hunger Games.

The mines weren't very deep. He had discovered that after climbing down several of them. They were deep enough that it would hurt to fall, but nowhere near as deep as the ones back in District Twelve. They were also strangely clean and well lit.

For mines, they were very nice.

The fact he was slipping under the radar so easily kept him on edge though. The Capitol audience didn't like tributes who did that, and neither did the Gamemakers. He could barely sleep, constantly expecting some mutt or tribute to be forced upon him in the hopes of some action.

He huddled up in the mine. He kept thinking how this place was like home, but the truth was it was nothing like home. It was too warm, too neat, too artificial. He closed his eyes.

He wanted to go home.

 **District Seven Female, Willow Green (17)**

It had been an eventful few days. Willow was sore and tired, aching all over. Even snogging with Tupelo didn't make her feel any better.

They ate some more of that meat for tea. Silas was still fuming they hadn't been able to catch up with the other tributes. "Fat lot of use you three were. Why didn't you take them out?"

"We tried," Tupelo said, but that wasn't really true. Only Tyla had genuinely tried to attack the other tributes, he and Willow had just defended their allies.

"You need to buck up."

"Or what?" Tyla snapped. Silas frowned.

"What?"

"Or what?" she repeated. "What you going to do big guy? Cobble together a new alliance at this point in the Games."

"I just might," he growled. She grinned and leant forward.

"Go on then."

"What?"

"You heard me. Go on. Leave us if we're that useless. Find yourself someone better."

"Who do you think you are?"

Willow exchanged a look with Tupelo. He kissed her, but it didn't make her feel any better.

"Me? What do you think you are, a Career?"

"No. I'm better!"

"Is that what you call killing a twelve year old girl?"

Silas roared and lunged at her. Tyla yelled as he threw her to the ground and began to slam his fists into her. She screamed and reached for her spear, driving the end into his leg but lacking the leverage to pull it out or push it deeper. Blood stained the ground. Willow looked at Tupelo. What did they do now? This wasn't the plan!

Tupelo grabbed his axe and leapt to his feet. Without hesitation, he drove the weapon deep into Silas's back. Silas roared and attempted to rear up, blood pouring from the deep wound. Willow snatched her own axe and aimed for his neck, instead driving it into his shoulders just below. Silas rolled off Tyla and lashed out weakly at Tupelo's legs. Tupelo wrenched his axe free and brought it down on the back of Silas's neck.

His body jerked once, twice, three times, and then lay still.

 **District Eleven Male, Oliver Farmer (14)**

Sierra was always so bright and cheery, a bubble of light in this dark world of death and despair. Sometimes Oliver had wondered whether she actually knew what was going on here.

And now she was dead.

Zinnia was trying to keep a brave face, her expression set in stone, but Oliver felt that he knew her well enough by now to know she was upset. She blamed herself. "If we hadn't left the other island, this would never have happened," was the only thing she'd said on the matter. Oliver tried to tell her it wasn't her fault, that twenty three of the tributes had to die in order for her to live – because he was determined it would be her living, she deserved it more than anyone – and that maybe it was a mercy for Sierra to go when she did.

He wasn't sure if he believed it himself, but that was beyond the point.

They sat huddled behind a ridge of greenery, cold, tired, and covered in blood that wasn't entirely theirs. If Sierra had been here she'd have initiated a conversation and tried to brighten the situation.

But Sierra was dead now, and they were all shaken. Maizie more than anyone. It had been her her District partner was trying to kill and her Sierra sacrificed herself for.

She hadn't stopped crying.

The anthem began. Maizie cried harder. A cannon rang out. Oliver jumped and glanced around his allies to check they were all still there.

All except Sierra.

A face appeared in the sky, but not the face any of them expected.

The District Nine boy.

The one that killed Sierra.

He was dead.

Gadge nudged Maizie. "Look."

"I don't want to."

"No, really. Look."

She lifted her head and stared. "Silas?"

The image faded to be replaced by Sierra's. The knife twisted in Oliver's gut. Sierra was dead, along with her murderer.

"Good riddance to bad rubbish," said Zinnia.

"I wonder how it happened," Maizie whispered as Sierra's image faded away.

"Mutts maybe. At any rate, that's one less threat for us to worry about."

Oliver let out a breath of relief, and then hated himself for it. He was happy someone was dead. What sort of person was happy someone was dead?

Zinnia took his hand. "Try not to think about it too much."

He squeezed her hand and opened his mouth to answer. At that moment, an explosion ripped through the air, a dull boom that sounded far off and yet still echoed through him. Zinnia grabbed her spear and leapt to her feet. "What the fuck was that?"

 **District Six Female, Kara Transson (17)**

Two more tributes dead, two more competitors gone, two more steps closer to the end.

This section of the arena was filled with rotten and burnt out cars and trains. Flammable rotten and burnt out cars and trains. She ripped them apart to build small bonfires and cut open some of the fuel hatches to find many of them were still filled with fuel. She sloshed it around the outside of the island and over the bonfires. The next island over was all trees, which was just perfect.

"Burn with us," she muttered as she stepped onto the bridge. "Burn with us!"

She lit the fuse. It took easily, eagerly. Kara ran across the bridge as the island she had been on burnt. An explosion rocked through the air. She laughed as smoke belched up into the air. "Burn baby burn."

This woodland would be easy to burn as well. A few unattended fires here and there and all these trees should go up. For now though, she needed to find somewhere to spend the night.

As she walked, she wondered what her brothers and makeshift family thought back home. Were they watching? Were they proud of her?

Even from here she could taste the smoke. It was a foul, gritty stench, like some of the areas of District Six worst damaged by the fire. No doubt the Gamemakers would put it out, but she'd have angered then and done some damage to the arena.

Kara laughed. "Watch me burn brothers and sisters."

 **District Eight Female, Tyla Calico (17)**

Tupelo and Willow dragged Silas's body off her and dumped it at the edge of their camp.

"Thanks," Tyla rasped. She was bloody and bruised, her head pounding and stars swirling behind her eyes, but she was still alive.

"Are you alright?" Willow asked.

"Oh yeah, just peachy." Tyla rubbed at her head, but it only made the stars worse. She rolled over and retched up blood and froth.

"You're a mess."

"Hadn't noticed." She heaved in a deep breath. Willow knelt at her side.

"Let me see."

By Willow's very basic first aid skills, they determined she had a fractured eye socket, broken nose, and more broken ribs. She took more painkiller, but it didn't seem to help. "You should leave me."

"What?"

"You should leave me."

"Why?"

"I'm injured. I'll only slow you down."

"We're not Silas. You're our ally, we're not leaving you."

Tyla laughed bitterly. "I thought we all went into this agreeing that it was an alliance of convenience, not a friendship."

"We did."

"I'm not exactly useful to you in this condition, am I? You should leave me."

Willow exchanged a look with Tupelo. Tyla would only be third wheeling here, holding the lovers back.

"We'll give it till the morning and see how you are then," Willow said. A hovercraft flew overhead to collect Silas's body. Tyla closed her eyes.

"You two could win you know. So long as I'm not holding you back."

"You won't be holding us back. We'll see how you are in the morning. We're not Silas. You could still help us."

Damn but she was soft hearted! Tyla rolled her eyes and dissolved into coughing again.

At least they had solved the Silas problem.

 **District Two Female, Valkyrie Slate (12)**

She'd seen no other tributes since seeing the smoke last night. Two more were dead though. One, the District Ten girl, had been the same age as her.

She wondered who killed her and hoped it hadn't been Max.

This new island was all open green land with animals milling about, and pitch black now the sun had gone down. V kept her larger knife in her hand, fearful that they could be mutts, about to charge at her and rip her limb from limb at any point. She shouldn't have stopped here for the night. She should have gone back to the wheat field.

Then the other tribute quite literally walked into her.

V screamed.

The other tribute screamed.

Both of them grabbed their weapons.

It was the girl from Nine, she realised, the one who's District partner died earlier today. Footsteps hurried through the dark. Another tribute appeared from the shadows, the girl from Eleven, who was wearing a blood stained brown onesie. She stared at her.

And then she burst into laughter.

V wasn't expecting that one. She couldn't even bring herself to be afraid of the very sharp looking spear pointing at her. "What- What?"

"Zinnia?" asked the girl from Nine.

'Zinnia' laughed and laughed, shaking her head. "Oh hell that's good!"

"What's so funny? What am I missing?"

The District Eleven girl dragged her hand across her eyes. "Your District partner went off looking for you last night. And now here we find you!"

"Max? You know where he is?"

"Nope," replied the girl, and started laughing again. The girl from Nine gave her a nudge.

"Zinnia! What are we going to do?"

V lowered her knife, though she kept her fingers wrapped tightly around the handle. "I'll walk away if you will."

The girl from Nine nodded. "I'll do that."

V took a step back.

"Wait," snapped the girl from Eleven. "You're the one got a nine in training, right?"

V grinned. "Yes."

She pointed at her knives. "Can you use those?"

V drew one, spun it between her fingers, and then threw it neatly in the fence six feet away. The Eleven girl nodded.

"Not bad. We could use another fighter. What you say, you want an alliance?"

V narrowed her eyes. "How do I know I can trust you?"

"You don't. But it would be safer than going it alone for a twelve year old girl, especially with that monster from Ten still out there. And the Careers are gone, so you can't fall back on that."

"What do you mean the Careers are gone?"

"They're gone. Broke up during the bloodbath. No Careers for these Games."

V swallowed and wet her lips. "Alright. I'm in."

 **District Ten**

No one in District Ten ever truly believed Sierra Prime could win. They just considered it a mercy she wasn't killed by their male tribute. All the same they cried for the innocent girl with the bright eyes whose life had been tragically wasted.

Her parents never really got over her death. Her mother was torn up by the fact the last thing Sierra said to them was that she hated them and her father took to drinking and avoiding his wife and son because of the memories.

Her brother Angus though, would fight on in her memory. Maybe, in years to come, his joining a rebel cell would get him shot at a young age. Or maybe he would journey to the Capitol to meet with a government aide who passed them information and fall in love with her.

 **District Nine**

Silas's death was met with mixed reactions in District Nine. Some who disliked his radical views and belief that tributes should train and prepare laughed and raised a glass to his downfall. Others, who were hoping that his victory would help make District Nine more prosperous, groaned and drank in despair.

Not even his family truly mourned him. Not the parents that barely knew him or the brothers that didn't actually like him very much. A few of the younger kids who trained cried a little, and some abandoned training there and then, wailing that they didn't want to be mostly decapitated by some maniac by a knife.

Life went on.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

That's the end of day four and we have sixteen tributes remaining! Does anyone have any theories for what will happen now? Any guesses for Victor?

 **Eulogies**

 **District Ten Female, Sierra Prime (12), killed by Silas Fields of District Nine. Placed Eighteenth.**

Sierra was of course the adorable sweet and innocent baby twelve year old girl who doesn't really know what the Games really are. I have seen male versions of this trope (very rarely), but they're mostly female and almost always die in the bloodbath. Unsurprisingly, Sierra was the highest scorer on the bloodbath poll, and she was originally intended to go down during the bloodbath. I think everyone was expecting her death, it was just a case of when it came. There's probably more than a few of you screaming 'why did she get so far?!' Well… Truth be told, that was author bias. See, while I hate Sierra's tropes, I actually enjoyed writing her. She was a sweet kid and didn't deserve to die for all that she was a terrible, terrible stereotype. She was probably one of my favourite characters, and intersected with a lot of characters who have big roles. I did actually want her to go even further than this, but also someone had to die and my plans for the other tributes in her alliance were set firmer at this point than my plans for her were, so Sierra it was.

 **District Nine Male, Silas Fields (18), killed by Tupelo Barker and Willow Green of District Seven. Placed Seventeenth.**

So, show of hands, who saw that one coming? Silas was the trained outer District volunteer. My original plan was for him to be a Career, and be the outer District career (which is mentioned during his interview), but after writing for him I decided that wouldn't work with his character. Then, after putting together his alliance, I always knew how this was going to end. I actually had this death planned out for him during the training chapters, it was just a matter of when. Again, it was meant to happen later on, but I had so many plans for so many of the tributes that some of the original desired placements just couldn't happen.

 **Alliances as of the end of Day Four**

Alliance One: Astoria, Orion.

Alliance Two: Tupelo, Willow, Tyla.

Alliance Three: Oliver, Data, Zinnia, Maizie, Gadge, Valkyrie.

Loners: Diamond, Maximus, Kara, Colby, Ash.


	35. Day Five

**Author's Note**

I do not own The Hunger Games.

I've finished another chapter, so I decided to post another chapter! Yes, so soon! Don't rely on it happening again any time soon, it's a golden egg kind of thing.

Big thank you to TheAmazingJAJ for your support. The reviews do mean a lot to me and I do read all of them.

* * *

 **District Eleven Female, Zinnia Kane (17)**

It was her fault Sierra was dead.

They should have stayed on the first island, the one that looked like District Eleven. They were safe there. But she was so paranoid she made them move, and that decision got Sierra killed.

Oliver told her it wasn't her fault, but they all knew that wasn't true. She was the leader of this alliance, and it was her decisions that made them run into the other tributes.

That was one of the reasons she offered an alliance to the girl from Two, Valkyrie, or V as she called herself. When Maizie ran into her they had three choices: kill her, let her leave, or ally. One twelve year old girl had already died that day, and at least this one could take care of herself.

Zinnia offered her the alliance.

To her surprise, she took it.

She reminded her of Sierra in some ways, but in others she was harder and more bitter. In some ways Zinnia liked that. The last thing she needed was another kid she had to babysit. So far though the girl showed no interest in attacking or betraying them. Her main concern seemed to be finding her District partner.

"We'll find him," Oliver told her. "We found him once didn't we, and now we've found you. We'll find him."

"He should have stayed with us," Zinnia said. If he'd stayed with them they would have had another strong fighter. They might have had more of a chance against the Nine boy's alliance and Sierra might still be alive.

She tried not to think about that.

Since V came from the island of wheat and hadn't seen her partner they decided to go back the way they'd come. Perhaps if they did find him she'd offer an alliance again. That could give them a solid chance.

That could be their best chance.

At least Maizie had a decent weapon now, and seemed pretty adept at using it. That made three of them, including V, who could fight, two liabilities – Data and Oliver – and one wildcard, Gadge.

Zinnia would take those odds. They had to be the biggest alliance left in the arena, and with the District Nine boy dead, his alliance would be severely weakened, especially since she was pretty sure the girl from Eight, Tyla, was injured.

So long as she didn't get too attached to any of the others, she could have a genuine shot at this. She could live, she could go home, and she could take her siblings out of that house to somewhere safe.

But she couldn't get too ahead of herself. She needed to take this one step at a time.

 **District Four Male, Orion Achoda (18)**

Their sponsors had sent them medical supplies, bandages for his fractured arm and a series of three injections that would apparently help with his concussion.

That loss had really just been humiliating. The District Ten boy had been even stronger than he ever expected and was seemingly unaffected by Astoria's shots. His sister was uninjured, which meant for the time being they had swapped weapons, with her taking the trident.

This part of the arena however, did seem to be unoccupied. The fire that ripped through it yesterday had probably chased any tributes here away. It had still been smouldering when they arrived last night. They couldn't even tell what things had once been, the only bits left being warped metal and scorched rubber. Everything stank of grit and smoke.

"I wonder why the Gamemakers would burn it," he said, rubbing his head. Astoria shoved his hand down.

"Maybe it's like the One Hundred and Twenty Ninth, where they destroyed sections of the arena day at a time. Or maybe they didn't."

He frowned. "What, you think another tribute did this?"

"That girl from Six had a preoccupation with fire if I remember right from training."

"Gamemakers'll be pissed."

"I'm guessing she's not the kind of person to care brother-mine." Astoria stretched out, sleek like a cat, tipping her head back toward the sky. "At least we seem to have lost the moron for now."

"We can't take another fight with him. Not now, not so soon."

With him injured like this the maniac could injure Astoria as well – or do even worse than that. Astoria nodded. "We need to keep moving then."

He struggled to his feet. They both knew he was lucky to come off without any other serious injury, and the sponsorship taken to get them these medical supplies could mean they wouldn't get anything else substantial for a while.

"Smoke," Astoria said.

"What?"

"Smoke," she repeated, pointing. It took far longer than it should for Orion to understand. In the distance, thick black smoke was rising up into the air.

"Can't go back," she said, thinking of the District Ten boy who might well be injured but could still be looking for them.

"Can't go forward," he replied, thinking of the fire.

"We could if it was the District Six girl. The Gamemakers'll put it out."

"You want to lay your life on that sister-mine?"

"You got a better idea?"

He didn't, so they started moving forward toward the flames.

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

A hovercraft came by shortly after the anthem, when it had obviously been decided they weren't moving camp, and collected Silas's body.

"Do you feel bad my love?" Willow whispered during the night.

"Not at all. I picked a side and it wasn't his."

Mind you, it wasn't Tyla's either.

Tyla wasn't much better in the morning. She said again that they should leave her.

"We're not leaving you!" Willow protested. "No way, no how. You're our ally, and we'll stand by you."

"Bleeding hearts romantics the pair of you."

"You can stay here at the camp, and we'll see if we can kill any of these other beasts, score us some meat. We gave plenty of drama yesterday, we can afford to rest for a day and start moving again tomorrow. You might feel better by then."

"Aye," muttered Tyla. "So how are we sharing his supplies?"

Due to his pillaging of the two tributes he'd killed, Silas had a lot of supplies. They piled them up in the centre of the camp, divided into food, water, and other. In a moment of indulgence, they decided to eat the food, and share everything else between them as fairly as they could. The biggest issue came when they were left with his fancy scythe, his knife, and a waterproof jacket as the last items.

"Seems fair I should get another weapon, since there's two of you," Tyla argued.

"But you're going to be staying here. We'll have more need of it."

"So you take the fancy scythe and I'll keep the knife."

They agreed to that after some more arguing. Without Silas the atmosphere seemed more lighthearted.

"We should go hunting," said Willow eventually. Tupelo frowned.

"Not for tributes. For the animals. More meat."

He nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense."

They would be seen to be doing something without following Silas's example of relentlessly hunting other tributes.

"You think you could guard the supplies Tyla?"

"Hey, I'm injured, not an invalid! I still say you two should leave me though. I would've done."

"That's nice to know, but we're not you, and we're definitely not Silas. You're our ally, and for now we want to keep this alliance together. Are you in or out?"

Tyla sighed heavily. "I'm in."

 **District Twelve Male, Ash Coleman (13)**

There was an almighty din coming from outside. Ash clutched his knife tight and climbed from the mine shaft.

A short way away there was a flailing figure caught in one of his bigger traps, cursing and snarling. Without getting too close, Ash would hazard a guess it was the girl from One. Both her feet were caught fast in one of his wire traps, and she was trying in vain to pull them free or cut the wire with her sword at the same time. Neither were working. Ash ducked back into the mine shaft.

What did he do?

Oh, he knew what he should do. He should take this knife he was holding so tightly his knuckles were turning white and drive it through her back.

Or preferably through her eye. That was the easiest way to do it when hunting. How he'd get close with her swinging that sword around was a different matter though.

What did he do?

Oh, he knew what Ember would say. _Kill her. You can come home to us, I know you can._

But it wasn't that easy. She wasn't a rat, or a rabbit, or a bird, or a deer. She was a human being, and he was holding her fate in his hands and she was holding his in hers. If he did go over there, if he did try to kill her, she would fight back. Even with her feet in the trap.

What did he do?

What should he do?

Could he really kill someone in cold blood?

 _You can come home to us._

 _You can come home._

Ember might not be the most caring of sisters, or the most loving, or the most sisterly, but she was his family. He could go home to her.

Ash clutched the knife a little tighter.

He knew what he had to do.

Still didn't like it very much though.

 **District Ten Male, Colby Marshall (18)**

The injury to his right shoulder would start bleeding again every time he moved his arm. He would have that girl for himself, and let her know exactly what he thought of her pretty face. Slowly and painfully, preferably. He'd have that brother of hers too, make him watch while he took his time with the girl and then kill him too.

He'd never had a boy before. The one he killed in the bloodbath didn't count. He was quite looking forward to it.

First though, he had to do something about his arm. He was already behind the two, he didn't need any more delays. He gathered what little kindling and firewood there was left here and built a fire. Once it was hot enough he heated the blade of his knife and pressed it to the wound as he had done a few times from wounds back home. When it became too much he let the knife drop and tested his arm. It still hurt, but it didn't bleed. Good.

There was smoke rising up in the distance. Too much for it to be a small fire like his. His beautiful twins couldn't possibly have gone that way then. This arena was big enough for them to have got back past him. Colby gritted his teeth.

He wanted them now more than ever.

They'd made him hurt. They had to pay for that.

They would pay in blood.

 **District One Female, Diamond Blush (17)**

Did this arena ever let up? No sooner had she escaped the glass torture than she'd stumbled into whatever new hell this was!

One of her legs was stuck tight in a small hole with wire wrapped around her ankle, and the other was caught in what looked like an animal trap. Diamond screeched at took another swipe at the wire with her sword, but it only twanged and failed to break. No doubt this would never happen to pretty perfect Tiara!

Something made her stop, listen. Movement behind her. Years of training at the academy made her twist to the left and her attacker stumbled past her, rolling out the way to her right. They were a small figure with messy dark hair and covered in mud and dirt. Clearly an outer District tribute. They scrambled to their feet, clutching a knife. The boy from Twelve, she recognised now.

"You little brat!" she hissed. Just wait till she got her hands on him! He waved the knife around as though thinking about throwing it.

"Go on. I dare you!"

He scampered round behind her, still clutching the knife. Diamond twisted to watch him. He circled around her, at one point darting forward and jumping back as she swung her sword at him. Every time she moved the wire cut deeper and deeper into her legs. At last she gritted her teeth, grasped it with both hands, and pulled, wrenching it out of the ground. At the same time the boy from Twelve launched himself at her, wrapping one arm around her chest and stabbing the knife frantically at her neck. Diamond screamed and tumbled to the ground, wrestling for control of the knife still flailing far too close to her neck for her comfort. The boy pulled at her hair. She rolled over, pain shooting through her ankle, pinning him behind and under her. He kicked furiously, but she had the upper hand now. Leveraging herself against the ground she flipped herself over and glared down at him. He was an ugly, scrawny creature with feral eyes, kicking and slapping angrily at her. She tried not to think about what she was about to do and just did it, driving her sword through his neck.

 _BOOM._

Diamond collapsed to his side, gasping for air. Her body shook. She killed someone. Not just someone, a little kid.

She smiled and wondered whether her parents would be proud of her now.

 **District Eight Female, Tyla Calico (17)**

Now that Silas had gone, Tupelo and Willow had gone right back to being sickly romantic.

Maybe it would have been better if that cannon had been for one of them.

Currently, they were feeding each other bits of cow mutt carcass and making disgusting lovey-dovey cooing sounds. Tyla wasn't sure if she was better or worse off when Silas was leading this alliance. Currently, she wasn't sure who the leader was, but it sure wasn't her. She seemed to be occupying the role of family pet.

"How are you feeling?" Willow asked between mouthfuls.

"Awful," Tyla grunted.

"You had your painkiller?"

"You my mother?"

"You had it?"

"Yes. I'm almost out."

"Well, without Silas we might finally start getting somewhere. Look at us, we've already had a feast for kings!"

Tupelo laughed and fed her another chunk of meat.

"I think I should leave."

The two of them froze.

"What?" asked Willow.

"I think I should leave," Tyla repeated.

"We already said we wanted to keep this alliance together."

"You two do, but there's no room for me. I'm holding you back, and you're keeping me down."

"Because you're injured! You need to stay down!"

Tyla grabbed her spear and used it as a crutch to push herself to her feet. "I think it would be best for all of us if we parted here. We always said it would be until Silas died, well he's dead. Sooner than we expected, but all the same."

Tupelo stood and held his hand out for Willow. "Are you sure?"

Pain shot through her chest as she grabbed her backpack and heaved it onto her back. "Yes. It's been good, this alliance, but we always said it was only a matter of convenience."

Tupelo nodded. "Well. Good luck then."

Willow clasped her hand and shook it. "Best of luck to you. If we run into each other again, how about a deal that we don't kill each other?"

Tyla smiled. "I'll take that deal mother."

Walking away from them felt… odd.

Very odd.

But it was for the best, their best as well as hers. Without her, they could play up the lovey couple act, and without them she could play up her tough girl angle. She might have liked to stay with them a bit longer, but she couldn't risk becoming dependent. That would lead to complacency, and complacency would lead to her being killed. She'd been dealt a bad hand, she just had to deal with it.

Tyla smiled through the pain and kept walking.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

End day five (although a night five chapter is still to come). I'm pretty sure this is the last day for a while to be contained in all one chapter. The next few days are all in pieces. What are your thoughts from here on out? Any ideas on what's to come next?

I'm hoping I can stick with the write one chapter/post one chapter with this story for a little bit, so I can still stay ahead of the game with writing. We'll see how that works out.


	36. Night Five

**Author's Note**

Guess what?!

I have not written one chapter in the last day and a half! I've written two! (The final eight interviews, yes, I am that far ahead.) So, as a bit of a present to me from myself, I've decided to give you guys another chapter. Big thank you to TheAmazingJAJ for your review of the last chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District One Female, Diamond Blush (17)**

She'd done it.

She'd killed another tribute.

 _She'd killed someone._

She was a player in these Games.

So... Why did she feel so unhappy about it?

It was him or her, the rat boy had made that very clear from the moment he charged her with a knife. She had to kill him, there was no other option, or she would have been the one lying there in a pool of blood, she would have been the one taken away by a hovercraft, she would have been the one killed.

If she died she would never be able to one up Tiara.

 _He had a family._

He was probably an orphan, all the tributes from Twelve were, undersized and half-starved, left to die by their parents. They should thank the Games for putting them out of their misery.

 _He should thank her!_

She nursed her cuts and bruises and tended to her shoulder again, taking another full shot of her rapidly depleting painkiller. Most days she only took a quarter, but today she hurt, and not just physically.

The anthem played, and the face of the boy she killed appeared in the sky.

The face of the boy she killed.

She killed him.

She did this.

Nobody else.

It wasn't fair.

Why did all this have to happen to her? She volunteered for the honour and glory, she would have the Career pack at her back and win a glorious victory over those useless crybabies. Better than Tiara's victory ever was.

So how did it end up like this? No Career pack, no allies at all, injured with lessening supplies on Day Six.

It wasn't fair!

A whistle sounded and a parachute floated down in front of her. Diamond fell on it eagerly. Inside was a large bottle of orange liquid, a Capitol meal pack, and a box of crackers with a note resting on top. Diamond opened it with shaky fingers.

 _Do your part and I'll do mine._

 _Have faith little sister._

 _T._

Typical, or course. Well, this was going to be her victory. She would see it through, and she would be so much better than Tiara.

So then...

Why did it still hurt so much?

Her onesie was more red than white now, some her blood, some his. She couldn't spare any water to wash it, so it remained that colour, taunting her.

For the sake of those that needed to die in order for her to prove herself, Diamond Blush was going to be Victor of these Games.

 **District Seven Female, Willow Green (17)**

Somehow, they hadn't seen it coming.

Maybe they should have, in retrospect, but they didn't. They just assumed Tyla would heal up, continue to ally with them, and the three of them would face off against the other tributes. Just because the Careers had collapsed didn't mean there were no threats left in this arena.

Them, for one.

The boy from Ten.

The Twins from Four.

The boy from Two.

The girl from Six.

The girl from One.

The girl from Eleven.

And now there was Tyla.

They said they wouldn't kill each other if they met again. Maybe it would be fate and they would go back to allying. Or maybe it would be fate and one of them would kill the other.

"You're still thinking about it, aren't you?" asked Tupelo.

"How can I not?"

"Tyla was always out for herself, just like we're out for us. She was never going to stay for the long term."

Willow sighed. "I guess not."

Tupelo wrapped an arm around her. "Besides, who needs her? You've got me!"

Willow wound her arms around his neck. "That I have my love."

"And do I have your love?"

"All of it and more."

He kissed her, hard, passionate. "Good. Then stop thinking about Tyla and think about me. Think about how poor and broken my heart would be without you."

"But one of us will be that way eventually, won't we? These Games can only have one Victor. Would you give your life for me my love?"

"In a heartbeat. Would you love anyone else?"

"Never. Would you?"

"Never. But you know, there have been Games with more than one Victor. I know I've heard of at least one where a couple won."

Willow raised her eyebrows. "So there could be hope for us yet my beloved one?"

"Oh yes princess, there could indeed."

She giggled and he flopped down beside her, nuzzling into her head. "All we gotta do is make them believe it."

"Do you believe it?"

"I've never believed in anything so strongly in my life."

Willow smiled. "Good."

He was the best thing that ever happened to her. Why she had to meet him now, when they were both in a death match, she would never know or understand. Perhaps it was fate, that they were destined to be doomed lovers like that book she once read about a Victor from One and a poor girl from Seven.

It was a very poor book. They were doomed from the start and both died in the end.

Just like she and Tupelo would.

 **District Three Male, Gadge Bishop (12)**

The statistics and presentation all pointed towards it. Gadge curled up next to Data that night, close enough that he could whisper into her ear, hopefully without any microphones listening. "Is it all a show?"

She tapped her hand twice on his leg. Back home in the labs when one couldn't speak, it was one for no and three for yes. Half and half then. Gadge nodded. "Is it the Little One?"

One two three.

"Are they alright?"

One two. She didn't know. Gadge bit his lip. "Do you want to make it obvious to the viewers? They might do something."

One.

She might be right there. That would be exposing weakness to the rest of their alliance for a payoff that mightn't come. From what he'd seen the Capitolites were hardly the brightest creatures.

"I won't let anyone hurt you."

Realistically though, what could he do? He was twelve, up against some eighteen year olds, some of whom had been training for years. Statistically speaking he should never have made it out of the bloodbath. Ninety three percent of twelve year olds died during the initial fight at the cornucopia. This year all three of them survived, and two of them still were, him and the girl from Two. Of course, she had an advantage over him in that she was a trained Career while he was a untrained kid from Three. Sure, he might have skipped three years in school and still be top of his class, but what did that mean here when he was fighting for his life.

Very, very little Gadge suspected.

None of the tributes here cared that he was top of all his classes and headed towards a lucrative career. None of them cared he had a family to go back to, just like the boy from Twelve whose face was in the sky earlier. None of them cared. Neither did the audience.

None of them cared.

They just cared that he was one more tribute, one more that had to die before they could live, before their favourite could become Victor and be paraded about on TV for the rest of their lives. It would probably be one of the Careers, or Zinnia, or one of the pair from Seven.

It wouldn't be him.

But maybe, just maybe, it could be Data.

She was an older tribute, like most Victors.

She had the sympathy angle, being pregnant.

She had something to fight for, Little One and her fiancé back home.

"Fight for them," he whispered. Data tapped her hand against his leg.

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone (18)**

There was no sign of V, but he knew she was out here somewhere and he had to find her. So far he'd been through three sections of the arena. The first had been the orchard, then a scrubby land riddled with holes and rotten boards, then a hellscape of glass grass and flowers that sliced him open if he made a misstep. Finally he'd arrived here, to a part of the arena apparently custom made to look like his home of District Two, with steep cliffs and clay in the ground.

V would love it here.

Max had always been lucky enough to live in the golden Victor's Village of District Two, which by now was like a small town all by itself with its own stores and cafes, but V's family were poorer and she might have been out on those mountains, little wild thing that she was.

What if she was out here somewhere, injured and alone, and he just couldn't see her?

How could he ever find her amongst all of this?

He was an idiot to have ever let this happen. He should have run for her at the bloodbath, he shouldn't have assumed Diamond would behave rationally and according to the plan.

So far he'd seen nothing else of Diamond since that one near run in with Zinnia's alliance, but he would find her. After he'd found V of course. They could find her together, he could let V have the killing blow.

It would be like karma.

V had to win this of course. It had to be her. He'd come to that conclusion a long time ago. He Volunteered for the honour and to live up to his family name, but she, she actually had something real and worth fighting for.

If V died, which he would never forgive himself for, he would win for her and make sure her family was well taken care of. It seemed only right.

Soon enough it was too dark for him to keep going, and he had to stop and make camp at the foot of one of the cliffs. "I won't give up. I will keep looking. I will find her."

He wasn't sure whose benefit the statement was for: his, Jeana and Grayson's, or the cameras.

 **District Two Female, Valkyrie Slate (12)**

They had stopped for the night in a small circle of wooden huts. The pair from Eleven, Zinnia and Oliver, were sat watch in the doorway of the hut. They were the leaders of this alliance, undisputed. As far as being unified went, this group was stronger than the Career pack ever was. They weren't the physically strongest, but mentally they seemed fairly happy with each other.

V was fairly sure the Career pack had been doomed from the moment she hit Diamond with her wing.

The other Careers were all still out there somewhere (all except Lucian) and it was a very odd thought that the people she had gone through training laughing and joking and competing with were now her deadly enemies. She wasn't sure about Astoria and Orion, but Diamond wouldn't hesitate to kill her.

It was a frightening thought, but then she remembered Atalanta back home, struggling and suffering, in need of the medical care only V could bring her.

She had to get back, even if that meant stabbing Max, who she had genuinely come to like, or any of these other tributes in the back.

In order for her to win they had to be dead, and that was weird because she was laid here thinking while they thought and dreamed around her. She wondered what families they had to go back to, what they thought and dreamt of. The pregnant girl, Dats, they said she was going to get married, which meant she had a fiance who really loved her back home, probably the father of her child.

V wondered if she could kill her, ending the life of her unborn child before it even started, just so she could go back to Atalanta.

She liked to think that she wouldn't, that she couldn't, but she wasn't sure what she would do anymore.

 **District Twelve**

No one really knew Ash Coleman to mourn for him. He was a quiet boy who had mostly kept to himself. Some at the Hub knew him through trading, as he would bring meat when he really needed something, and they whispered a prayer, but no more was said. District Twelve was used to their tributes dying. Frankly, they were more surprised he didn't die in the bloodbath.

Ember Coleman, Ash's older sister, cried for the brother she never really got close to and took for granted. Sometimes you never truly knew what you had until it wasn't there any more.

Ember and Ash Coleman's father would learn that the following year.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

So a bit of a quiet chapter here with some character reflection thrown in, but this one was written after I had a bit of a break from writing both this and anything really, so I was still coming back into the swing of things. Take it easy on me.

 **Eulogies**

 **District Twelve Male, Ash Coleman (13), killed by Diamond Blush of District One. Placed Sixteenth.**

Ash was a bit of an invisible one really, we didn't see much of him. His stereotypes, which weren't at all as obvious as I could have made them, were the District Twelve hunter and the sneaky underdog. I didn't make nearly as much of him as I could have done. My original plan was for him to reach maybe the top eight via staying invisible, keeping his head down and staying away from other tributes (ah the strategy all SYOT authors hate), and then be killed off, but due to other developing plans it just couldn't be done. Looking back it maybe would have made more sense story wise for him to go down in the bloodbath because of this, but back then I still wanted to go with my original plans for him, and I'd come too far in my writing/drafting and planning to go back and kill him off then because it would screw up the numbers and my plans for the arena. So yeah, this one's entirely on me.


	37. Day Six Part One

**Author's Note**

I do not own The Hunger Games.

Good news! This story is drafted and complete up until the end of the Games. There's still a bit left to go, but I wanted to let you guys that this will be finished one day. Unfortunately, the bad news is that even though most of it is written, updates could still be slow, partly because of life and also because I'm bad at remembering to actually post updates.

I'm going to stick a brief warning up here again, because Colby has a POV in this one, and by this point I think you all know what to expect from him.

* * *

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda (18)**

Orion's injuries were healing up unnaturally fast with the aid of the Capitol medicine. His head injury was almost completely healed, while his arm was still sore, but most of the swelling had gone down.

District Four was a wealthy enough District in places and Astoria had danced in some lavish houses, but even one of those had belonged to a pervy old man with a bad arm given a pass because he took a very bad head injury many years ago when the idiot's yacht was caught in a storm.

Imagine what they could do with medicine like this in the Districts!

Her mother, not that she was ever any use as such, might have lived.

It seemed... unfair somehow that the Capitol had all this and kept it to themselves. They must have had it for a long time too, Astoria doubted any of the fools she met during her time there were intelligent enough to invent something like this. That meant they had had the ability to make stuff like this for a very long while and just... kept it all to themselves.

Oh, who was she kidding, that was exactly the sort of thing she would do. Or keep it all to herself and sell it for exuberant prices. Maybe that was what the Capitol did and they were just lucky enough to have a sponsor who bought it for them.

"My thanks to our kind sponsors," she said after checking Orion's arm. No harm in being thankful.

Something crackled in the bushes. Orion reached instinctively for the trident and she slapped his hand away, taking it herself. He rolled his eyes. "My arm is healed sister-mine."

"Your arm is healing," she snapped back. He sighed and drew her bow, retreating to one side. Astoria stabbed the trident into the bushes, pushing it through the branches. A grey blur sprang out and leapt at her, screeching and clawing. She ducked and it flew over her head, landing at the other side of their clearing.

"A squirrel?" Orion asked doubtfully. The squirrel screeched at them, showing teeth far bigger and sharper than usual. Orion let loose the arrow. It pierced the squirrel in the side, which only served to make it angry as it roared a squeaky roar and launched itself at him. Astoria threw herself forward with the trident, skewering it through the chest. It twitched and jerked on the prongs before falling still. Astoria pinned it cautiously against the ground.

"Maybe we're getting dull brother-mine."

He smiled and slung the bow back over his shoulder. "Well then. We better make ourselves more interesting, haven't we dearest sister?"

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

Willow still seemed pretty shaken about Tyla's departure. Tupelo wished she would stop thinking about it and reading so much into it. They were stronger just as a pair, they didn't need Tyla or Silas. The two of them only got them into more danger.

"With Tyla gone and enough supplies, we can lay low for a while, wait for a few more of the others to kill themselves off."

Willow sighed and squeezed his hand tight. "I wish we weren't thinking about things like that."

"This is the Hunger Games. You have to be realistic."

"Yeah." Willow leant over to kiss him. "I just wish we could stay like this forever."

"What, trapped in a death match?"

"No! Lying here, with you, no one trying to kill us... It's nice."

Satisfied by the little things. She really was perfect. Tupelo was sure he was quite literally going to spend the rest of his life with her.

There was a snort from nearby. One of the largest goat mutts he'd seen had wandered close. So far the things had shown very little aggression toward them, but something felt... different about this one.

Willow tapped his arm and wrapped her fingers around the handle of her axe not a moment too late as the goat charged at them. Tupelo sprang to his feet, lifting his own axe. The goat gained size by the step and by the time it reached them it was as big as Willow's shoulder. It kept its head down and hurtled toward her. Tupelo swung his axe, but it bounced from the thing's horns. Willow leapt aside and drove her own axe into the beast's leg, leaving a deep gouge. It healed up as soon as she ripped the blade free.

Fuck.

The goat came back round for another try, and it seemed even bigger now, standing as tall as Tupelo and bellowing with fury. Tupelo jumped one way, Willow the other, and it charged after her, maybe drawn by her scarlet hair. She sprang into the air and rolled over its back, landing neatly at the other side. Tupelo tightened his grip on his axe and this time met the giant goat head on as it charged toward them. The axe drove deep into its skull. Willow plunged hers into its neck. It roared and twitched and began to shrink as its legs collapsed. By the time it lay dead on the ground it was smaller than when it started, small enough to fit in his two hands. He and Willow stared at it, panting. Willow mopped a hand across her head. "Well, there might be enough for a really small stew."

Tupelo laughed, and it felt like once he'd started he was unable to stop. Willow joined in and the two of them collapsed in a mass of limbs and laughter. He kissed her. "I really don't know what I'd do without you."

Willow squeezed him tight. "How about we try not to find out?"

 **District Six Female, Kara Transson (17)**

The fire in the woodland hadn't lasted very long.

That was disappointing.

The trees had been nice and dry and burnt easily, so presumably the Gamemakers had put it out.

Kara kept her grin plastered across her face as she climbed through the damn fabric that made up most of this island. She'd celebrate when she got to start burning this,Nashe really would. It was like hell on earth.

There was a hiss from her left. She turned, swung her machete, and came face to face with a mangy orange Tom cat, back arched, hissing and spitting. Kara narrowed her eyes. "Come on then you little creep."

The cat did exactly that, launching itself at her with a yowl. Kara sidestepped to avoid it and then suddenly there was another, a black one, and another, another. Kara drove her machete into the ginger one's head as it leapt at her and drew her knife with her other hand to slash at a cream one that tried to claw up her leg, leaving bloody red gouges. She spun round and round, swinging her weapons at anything that moved, and eventually stood, bloodied and panting, in a small pile of carcasses. They quickly began to fizz and slowly dissolve into ash. Kara stepped around them, wiped her boots and weapons off on the fabric, and kept moving.

The sooner she got to set this place alight, the better, even if she died doing it. The world would be a better place.

Of course, the world would be a better place without the Hunger Games, but that would never happen, not without people rising up and defying the Capitol, and who had the bravery to do that? In District Six people barely had the bravery to look each other in the eye. Who could stand up to the might of the Capitol?

Fire.

Because what would all their might matter if the flames turned it all to dust?

 **District Eight Female, Tyla Calico (17)**

Did she make the right choice leaving the lovebirds?

Did she?

Tyla really couldn't say.

She was pretty sure they'd have cared for her, honourable and good as they were, but eventually that would bore the audience. The Capitol wanted blood, not happy family alliances.

She had walked through much of the night, pushing through the pain, leaving the green island for one full of wheat, and was now stood at the opposite side of that one, staring across the thin tightrope to the island on the other side, which seemed to consist of brightly coloured fabric.

More distance between her and the District Seven pair seemed like exactly what she needed. She gripped the rope rails and stepped out onto the tightrope, ignoring the pain in her chest as she moved. Step by step she moved until she was stood on the other side.

The island was indeed filled with brightly coloured fabric, huge, towering piles of it with no paths through. Tyla climbed over the stuff, using her spear as a support.

Why did anyone think this was a good idea?

Then again the Capitol audience probably thought it was hysterical to watch the tributes struggle and flounder through it. These were the same people who once thought a junkyard arena would also be great fun. Tyla just hoped there were no sinkholes. Suffocating under a mountain of fabric would be hell, not to mention incredibly humiliating.

Something large and grey flew toward her face. Tyla screamed and ducked, spinning round to wave her spear at it. It leapt at her again, yellow fangs, grey claws and matted fur. She knocked it back with her spear, tossing it to the ground, and then drove Silas's knife through its back.

It was Arab, she saw now it was dead.

"Oh, nice work, freaking out over a rat," she muttered, ripping her knife out. "Real tough. Everyone'll just love me now."

At least it was a rat that had been attacking her. It would have been worse if it was only an ordinary rat, like the ones that ran about between the buildings in District Eight.

She opened her bag and pulled out her blanket, using it to bundle up the rat. She was alone now, and she couldn't afford to waste potential food. She tied the blanket and hung it under her bag instead of putting it inside and started moving again.

She had to be ready, especially now she was injured. She couldn't afford to stop.

The stench of smoke gave her reason to speed up her clambering. Her chest burnt with pain and every breath was agony, but it also brought the taste of burning, the smell of smoke filling her mouth like water. Glancing over her shoulder Tyla could see that half the ground she'd covered was now alight with angry red flames, and they were quickly eating through the dry blankets.

It wouldn't be the first time the Gamemakers set the arena alight to give the viewers some action on a slow day.

Tyla cursed.

Why her?

 **District Ten Male, Colby Marshall (18)**

The crumbling buildings were as empty as when he'd left this island.

They weren't here.

Colby roared and slammed his fist into the nearest wall.

They weren't here!

They must have kept going after all, got past him, got away from him!

He growled through his teeth.

Six wretched days he'd had in this arena, and he'd only made one wretched kill, and that on day one!

During the bloodbath no less!

He was better than that.

He could do so much better than that.

Something moved, rustled, clattered behind him.

Starting from now it would seem.

A stunningly beautiful woman stepped from behind the closest building, a goddess in human form. Golden blonde hair flowed down her back like water. Blue eyes like the sky peeped out from a porcelain white face with a button nose and full red lips. Her figure was a perfect hourglass, nice bum, big boobs.

Colby wet his lips.

She wasn't one of the tributes, he was sure of that.

That meant she'd been sent here just for him, designed just for him.

A present.

A gift from the Gamemakers, to see what he would do most likely.

Well, he'd show them what he would do.

"My thanks to the Gamemakers," he said with a smirk and strode forward to meet her. She melted in his arms, kissed him as he kissed her, her body rubbing against his, and then the taste of copper was filling his mouth and pain lancing down his back.

He roared and tried to push her away but she held on, her arms slithering over him, legs wrapped around his waist, claws sinking into his back. Colby snarled and brought the fist with his brass knuckles down hard onto her head. It didn't knock her out or away as it would have done a normal woman, but it knocked her back and got her away from him. He slammed his fist into her face, feeling her cute button nose break under the impact, but no blood came and still she stood strong. Her teeth were red with his blood. Colby drew his knife. "Right you bitch. Let's see what's under your pretty skin."

He leapt at her and she leapt at him. They were fairly evenly matched until he drove the knife through her chest. No blood exploded out. He ripped it free. She stumbled a little and still stood there, smiling at him.

Then she sprang forward, hitting him with more strength and weight that he expecting, knocking him to the ground. They rolled and he grabbed a fistful of her pretty blonde hair, yanked her head back, and thrust his knife through her neck.

She died as silently as she'd arrived.

Colby slammed his fists into the corpse a few time, but it was never as fun as hitting a live being. He staggered to his feet, kicked her for good measure, and glared at the sky as a canon rang out. "Bring it on you bastards."

 **District Nine Female, Maizie Miller (16)**

One more canon.

One more tribute dead.

Maizie hated the relief she felt at the fact it wasn't her or one of her allies. There were still half a dozen or so other tributes it could have been.

It could have been Maximus.

She looked at Valkyrie and could tell the younger girl had that thought in her head too.

"Maximus is the strongest tribute in this arena, except maybe the District Ten boy," said Zinnia as though reading their minds. "It won't have been him."

Valkyrie nodded, but she did t look convinced.

Maizie wondered what was meant to happen when they did find Maximus again. Would he ally with them again or were they to hand Valkyrie over like a pound of wheat, say 'here, this is yours?'

The thought made her giggle. Gadge gave her an odd look.

"Funny thought," she said. Data smiled and ran a hand over her stomach. It was the most life or affection Maizie had seen from her in days. If it was an act, it was a good one, and if it was for real, it was fast becoming a problem. Also a problem, however, was the fact that she didn't know if she had it in her to kill a pregnant woman if she had to.

She knew she wasn't meant to, in fact it was probably the worst thing she could do, and she'd only known them just over a week, but Maizie liked her allies. They felt like a team, even if they weren't family. Here were people who would fight for each other,nook after each other. Oh, there were cracks of course, like how Gadge stuck close to Data and Oliver watched Zinnia with possessive, protective, star struck eyes, but she liked them.

She could never kill any of them.

How could she? She knew them, their faces, their personalities, what they were fighting for. They'd spoken about their families, their friends, their lives back home, they'd cried and bonded. How could any of them kill each other now?

Well.

Maizie suspected Zinnia might, if the way she looked at them sometimes was to be believed. She was all sharp edges that girl, but sharp edges that Maizie had learnt how to avoid.

They knew each other now.

Maizie held her scythe a little tighter as she walked and wondered whether the others truly felt the same.

Footsteps pounded through the orchard. Zinnia spun round, holding her spear threateningly. Maizie took the place to her left, Valkyrie to her right. Oliver held his makeshift crutch defensively. Only Gadge and Data were unarmed, sheltering behind them.

Shadows moved in the trees all around them.

"There's more than one," Valkyrie said unhelpfully.

"I can see that, thank you," growled Zinnia. Valkyrie flipped a throwing knife in her hand and it was infuriating that a twelve year old could do that so casually while they were under threat of death and Maizie at sixteen couldn't.

The whole Career training thing was unfair.

Maybe Silas had had a point.

A small, dark haired woman in a smart brown dress appeared from the trees just to Oliver's right. She didn't look very threatening. A man came after her, tall and black haired. He was followed by a dark skinned woman in an orange dress. Maizie saw Zinnia's spear dip slightly.

"Mom?"

* * *

 _Fin chapter._

Dun Dunn DUNN!


	38. Day Six Part Two

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

A big thank you to Dreamer and floriannan for your reviews! All support is appreciated!

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 **District Eleven Female, Zinnia Kane (17)**

"Zinnia," whispered the woman in front of her. The spear shook in her hands. It was a trick, it had to be a trick, a ploy by the Gamemakers - but what? And how?

This woman, she looked exactly like her mother.

Even the crinkles round her eyes.

Even the scar on her temple where she hit her head on the wall when her husband threw her into it three years ago.

Even the still healing cut on her lip from the punch a week and a half ago.

But not the hollowness in her voice.

Not the way she said 'I love you my babies' and then still let him hit them.

Not the way she said 'Zinnia,' in the way she hadn't for years, not since Zinnia was a little girl who couldn't take care of herself and needed her mommy to do it, except her mommy wouldn't because she was too busy being smacked around by her daddy.

Such was life.

This woman in front of her was a fake.

There were at least a dozen others around them, men, women, a handful of teenagers, her siblings amongst them, and a little girl. Valkyrie was looking at one of the teens, a girl with sickly grey skin and brown hair. "Atalanta?"

"It's not really her," Zinnia said. Valkyrie laughed.

"I know. She looks way too healthy."

Maizie stuck her scythe out to stop a dark haired man in metallic grey who looked like he might be from District Three getting too close to her. Data cried a protest. "Sean!"

It was the first thing Zinnia'd heard her say in days.

"Don't you hurt him!"

"It's not really him," Zinnia snapped.

"Of course it is! You think I don't know my fiance?" Data stepped forward and held her arms out. Gadge pulled her back.

"What would Sean be doing here Data?"

Data faltered. Gadge lifted his chin and stared down the first woman to come out of the trees. "What would any of them be doing here? What are you doing here mum?"

"Well I came for you," she said with a smile. A man appeared at her shoulder.

"We both did. We could hardly let our little boy suffer, could we?"

"What would we do without our little genius?"

A happy little family, something she never got. Zinnia suddenly felt incredibly bitter.

It seemed there was someone here for everyone, parents and siblings. Oliver's she guessed was the little dark skinned girl. That must be Sage who he'd told her about.

"How did you get here?"

"Why, the Gamemakers let us in," said the man she took to be Valkyrie's father, muscular and balding on top.

"I've missed you so much," said her mom. Zinnia gritted her teeth. Her father appeared behind her mom.

"Why would they do that?" Gadge asked.

"So we could put on a show," whispered what must be Maizie's mother.

Of course.

The show must go on.

Zinnia tightened her grip on her spear and finally got to do something she'd wanted to do for years.

 **District Three Male, Gadge Bishop (12)**

Zinnia lifted her spear again and charged straight at the man now stood with the woman she'd called mom, piercing him through the chest. Ash and smoke poured out and he burst into flame, quickly dissolving into nothing.

"What have you done?" screamed her mom, charging at her. Zinnia side stepped out the way and Oliver smacked the woman across the back of his head with his crutch. They both staggered and fell to the ground. She screeched and clawed at him, but Gadge couldn't see what happened after that because his mother sprang for him, hands outstretched toward his neck. He dodged aside, wishing he had a weapon. Data's fiancé had her pinned against a tree, strangling her. A knife thudded into the back of his neck and he too exploded into flame and ash. Data stumbled, gasping for air. Gadge dived down, grabbed the knife and planted himself in front of her.

Zinnia's mom had gone, someone must have exploded her too, and Oliver was wrestling with a dark skinned girl about his own age. Maizie cut her down with her scythe.

They weren't real, Gadge told himself, none of them were real. They were just walking facsimiles made by the Gamemakers to spook them.

It was working.

How could he kill his mother, even now he had a knife in his hand to do it?

How did Zinnia manage to kill hers, he wondered, with so little reaction?

Valkyrie took out another of the creatures with another well aimed knife. She was his age, how could she be so good at that? Maizie was to her side, covering the people that closer with her scythe. Oliver and Zinnia were fighting back to back, spinning round so Zinnia could strike at the creatures with her spear since Oliver didn't have a sharpened weapon. How many of these things were there? He tried to remember what they'd said about their families. Zinnia had a big one he recalled, so most of the dark skinned teenagers hissing and snapping and clawing at them must be hers. Maizie only had her mother. Data had her parents, fiance, and hadn't she mentioned a brother or was he mixing that up with someone else?

A small black girl, maybe four or five, leapt at him and sank her teeth deep into his leg. Gadge screamed and tried to smack her away with the hand still holding the knife.

It went straight through her head like paper and she screamed, bursting into flame. Gadge screamed too.

"They're not real!" Zinnia shouted, running her spear through another of the creatures. "None of them are real! Kill them all!"

Gadge really wished she hadn't used the word kill.

 **District Seven Female, Willow Green (17)**

The roasted meat from the tiny goat was good, even if there wasn't much. Willow was pretty sure she'd never taste anything else as good.

The problem came after they ate, when her father wandered over the field to stare at them disappointedly. Well, that was nothing new.

"What are you doing Willow? I thought you understood."

"Who's this?" Tupelo asked.

"My father."

"What's he doing here?"

Her father smiled. "I'm here for you. You've got a marriage to attend."

"A marriage to attend," agreed her mother, siblings, and former betrothed who had appeared behind him.

"Like hell I have. When I leave this arena it'll be in a coffin or with Tupelo, and I'll be marrying him."

"Nonsense. It's all arranged." Her father grabbed her wrist. Her skin burnt and blistered where he touched. She screamed. Tupelo leapt to his feet and brought his axe down on her father's arm, cutting clean through the forearm. His hand fizzed away into mist. Her father stared at the place his hand used to be. "What have you done?"

The words seemed to echo around them. She could see through him now, literally, to the fence behind him. Willow grabbed her own axe and stumbled to her feet. "You're not real."

"I'm more real than you."

'More real than you.'

'Real than you.'

'Than you.'

'You.'

More figures had appeared on Tupelo's side. The woman looked like him, so she guessed this was his family. She grinned at him. "Talk about a bad moment to play meet the parents."

"You want to switch?"

"Absolutely."

They spun round, swapped places, and then started swinging. Their fake families didn't even fight, they just stood there and whispered about how disappointed they were in both of them until they dissolved into mist. It wasn't even the weirdest Gamemaker trick Willow had ever seen used.

She and Tupelo collapsed, panting, and wrapped themselves around each other.

"What was that?" she asked through disbelieving laughter. He shook his head.

"I have no idea."

Sometimes you just had to see the funny side.

 **District Four Male, Orion Achoda (18)**

"This is because of the whole painted nymphs thing, isn't it?" shouted Astoria.

"Undoubtedly!"

Apparently their show this morning hadn't been enough, because they were now surrounded by silver skinned versions of their family, growling and snapping with shark jaws.

"Well it isn't funny!" Astoria lunged forward with the trident and plunged it through fake shark Perseus's chest. He made a bizarre shrieking noise and began to dissolve into foam. That made things easier. Orion notched another arrow.

Ten minutes later they were standing in a sea of devastation and foam that smelt vaguely of salt. Astoria collapsed against a tree. "Do you think we're interesting enough now brother-mine?"

"I damn well hope so."

Astoria's gaze fixed on something behind him. He drew another arrow from the quiver, ready to fight hand to hand if he needed to, but there was nothing to fight. Thick black smoke was rising into the air a good distance away.

"The arsonist strikes again," he muttered. Astoria nodded,

"I guess so. I do hope we get to meet whoever's doing this. I want to congratulate them. And then kill them."

Orion laughed. "I'll see what can be done sister-mine."

 **District Eleven Male, Oliver Farmer (14)**

They were battered, bruised and bleeding, but at last all their zombie family members were dead. Data was curled into a ball at the base of a tree and sobbing uncontrollably. Gadge had thrown up twice, Maizie hadn't said a word, just started cleaning the blood from her scythe, and Zinnia was doubled over, hands on her knees, breathing hard. The only one who seemed unbothered by it all was Valkyrie.

Zinnia straightened up. "Right. Does anyone here have any severe injuries?"

Everyone answered no, which had to be a miracle. Oliver was surprised none of them were killed, but looking back on it, it didn't seem like the zombies were really trying to kill them.

Maybe it had been a slow day for the Gamemakers.

"Okay. Here's what we're going to do. We're not going anywhere else for today. We're going to surround or camp with traps, and then treat our wounds. We don't know if there might be more of those things on the way."

More of those things? The only one that came for him was Sage, for which Oliver counted himself lucky. He didn't know if he could have killed his family twice over, and he could see the effect having to kill their family had had on his allies. He hadn't even needed to deal with Sage, Gadge did that for him.

"But we will keep looking for Max?" asked Valkyrie.

"We'll see what our position's like in the morning."

Valkyrie nodded. "That sounds good."

It took them an hour to set up all the traps, filling the woods around them until it was vital to remember exactly where to step and what not to disturb.

At last they stopped, gathered around their fire and patched up their scrapes. Gadge had come the worst off. Sage had bitten deep into his leg, tearing away the flesh. Oliver's stomach churned as Data burnt the wound closed. At the back of his mind he saw Sage, the real Sage, her face, her tears as he was leaving.

She loved him.

She cared for him.

She would be waiting and cheering for him to come back.

There were others who deserved it more, of course there were, but maybe living wouldn't be so bad after all.


	39. Night Six

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

Big thank you to Dreamer for the review on the last chapter, and a thank you to everyone who has supported this story!

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 **District One Female, Diamond Blush (17)**

She was filthy.

She stank.

Her hair was a mess.

Her breath tasted foul.

And after a meal of a few crackers, she was starving.

Tiara always looked so perfect during her Games. Diamond wondered how she'd done it. Maybe she just didn't do any work, she couldn't remember now. All she could think of was how she glowed at the Victory parade, how everyone cheered for her.

 _Diamond, do you know what the arena is,_ she asked the morning before she entered it. _It's not an adventure and it's not honourable. It's hell._

She was always drunk these days. Diamond was beginning to wonder why that was. She'd always thought it was because she could be, because she wanted to be, because she was a lazy alcoholic who liked it, but now she wondered if it was because every time she closed her eyes she saw the faces of the children she killed.

Diamond took a swig of the energy drink she'd been sent, but it didn't help. Yesterday she killed a boy, a boy who probably had a family at home just like her, a family which was probably more loving and supporting than hers. Today she'd spent the afternoon chopping up ghosts who looked like her not so tender loving family and watching them fizz away into ash.

Ash.

She was pretty sure that had been the Twelve boy's name, Ash something or other.

Ridiculous name.

Maybe his family didn't love him after all.

Maybe he had no family, grubby little orphan from Twelve like the girl last year.

Maybe.

Maybe wasn't t good enough.

No wonder Tiara drank.

A bell rang and a tiny parachute floated down. The box was no bigger than her hand. It contained two District One bread rolls, soft white and glittery, a small pack of nuts, and a note.

 _You wanted this, so stop feeling sorry for yourself and get out there! If you're still holding that ridiculous grudge she just might be closer than you think. Pull your useless self together!_

Diamond screwed the note up in her hands and tossed it into the bushes.

Ten minutes later, feeling fuller from the bread roll, she fetched it again and stuffed it into her bag.

She would keep it for when she left this arena, as a reminder for all the reasons she hated Tiara. Pretty, perfect Tiara whose Games were picture perfect.

Diamond would be a better Victor for all the hardship she'd endured, just you watch.

She bit her lip and really hoped the boy from District Twelve had no one who was missing him.

 **District Seven Female, Willow Green (17)**

Tomorrow they would have to move. It was dangerous to stay in one place too long in the Hunger Games, and even more dangerous to be boring.

Tupelo leant over to kiss her. "What you thinking about?"

"Moving."

"To where?"

"A big house with four bedrooms and a king sized bed."

"Will I be there?"

"Of course. And we should have a dog, and a cat."

"Hm.'

"And children, but those we can have later."

"How many?"

"Two."

"They better have scarlet hair. A boy and a girl?"

"Yes."

"You got names?"

"No."

"We've got time."

"All the time in the world my love."

Except they hadn't.

Obviously they hadn't.

This was the Hunger Games.

One of them might die tomorrow.

The Capitol anthem played, and a face appeared in the sky. Willow felt her heart skip. "Tyla."

How did this happen? Tyla was injured but she was strong. How could she be dead now, her face in the sky above them? Tupelo squeezed her hand. "You okay?"

"No, not really."

She left them, and now she was dead.

They should have insisted on her staying. But she left, she left and now-

Now-

They only saw her last night! She was a living breathing person then!

Her face in the sky faded away.

"How do you think it happened?" Willow asked. Tupelo shrugged.

"The boy from Ten maybe. Or one of the Careers. They're still strong, even if they're not a pack this year."

Willow nodded. She felt sick. Tyla had been... maybe not a friend, but an acquaintance. More than just an ally. She didn't feel that way towards them though. That was the problem. Willow fell in love too fast too hard, while Tyla stood back and kept her distance. She protected herself first and foremost, while Willow tried to think of everyone else as well. Which way was better? Willow didn't want to say, although of course she was still alive while Tyla, Tyla was dead.

Tupelo pulled her close, kissed her ears and her neck. "Look at it a different way. She's dead. That's one less competitor for us. We could be one step closer to living."

"One step closer to living the rest of my life without the man I love in it!" Willow snapped.

"We'll work this out. We'll work something out. I don't want to live without you either my love. I want to live to see my children and grandchildren have red hair." He combed his fingers through her locks, which by now we're closer to muddy brown than scarlet red. Willow blushed.

"You think so?"

"I know so. I love you, and if you die, I will drop down dead beside you. There's no way I could live without you. You're the most amazing person I've ever met."

Willow sighed. "I wish we really had met sooner you know."

"Me too. But you're my soulmate, and if we die now, I'll find you again. I promise."

"I'll hold you to that."

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone (18)**

Another day, another canon, another death, but it wasn't V's. She was out here somewhere, on her own, maybe looking for him like he was looking for her. How long had they been in the arena now? Max had lost track.

He'd cut a path straight across the last island, one filled with rusted metal towers, huge metal robots, and, for some reason, fully functional conveyer belts. What that was all about he wasn't sure. He hadn't had time to stop and think because he was being chased by doll things with spindly limbs wearing masks that looked like his family members. They must have had some sort of basic basis on them as well, as the two that looked like the twins stuck pretty close, while the one wearing Jasper's face kept its distance. Max only really saw it peeping from around towers and under conveyer belts.

It was a bit weird.

None of them made to attack him though, except when he stopped. So long as he kept moving, they stayed away. Max was glad. He didn't want to know if they could fight like his siblings.

The island he was entirely made of water with thin paths of land between and over it.

Orion and Astoria would have felt right at home here.

He, however, climbed over it with the grace of a donkey as the sun began to set. He didn't really want to stay and camp here, but at the same time, he couldn't keep going once it was dark. He'd have a one hundred percent chance of ending up in the water.

"Where are you V?" he asked the open water, which of course didn't reply. He kicked at it, splashing up black liquid and white foam.

The beeping that signalled a parachute sounded. One floated down, landing ahead of him on the strip of land, a red light flashing to show him where it was. Max picked his way over to it. It was a small box, as big as his hands. He ripped it open, ignoring the gift and grabbing the note, holding it by the red light to read.

 _What you seek_

 _Is where you've been._

 _Keep heart,_

 _Take heed._

 _G+J_

Max sighed. "The cryptic notes really aren't funny guys."

They probably found it hysterical though. It was just their sense of humour, and exactly like them to be pig headed and difficult about things.

"What's that even meant to mean?"

The water gave no answers, because it was empty water.

The parachute box also contained two packets of jerky and a small tube of energy powder, like they got to use back at the academy before fights. Max tucked it and one of the packets carefully into his backpack, ripping open the other and removing half the jerky to chew on as he walked.

 _What you seek_

 _Is where you've been._

He stopped.

 _What you seek_

 _Is where you've been._

It couldn't be so obvious could it?

 _What you seek_

 _Is where you've been._

That wasn't like them.

 _What you seek_

 _Is where you've been._

But it had to be, because what else would it mean? V was on one of the islands he'd already been to. Somehow he'd missed her, or maybe she was following behind him, never able to catch up because he kept moving ahead. Max turned round. If he kept moving, he might get back to the edge of the island by nightfall, although he wasn't going back to the island with those creepy dolls while it was dark. He only hoped if V was on that one she had the sense to keep moving and stay away from them.

"Keep going V. Keep fighting. Be fierce. I'll find you."

 **District Three Female, Data Huxley (18)**

Sean had died right in front of her.

She'd been so sure it was him.

Right up until the moment when he tried to strangle her, burst into flames, and turned to nothing.

How could they do this?

How could they be so cruel?

She nibbled at the fruit Oliver had given her, but even the taste of it turned her stomach. There was something wrong with her Little One, she knew it.

Or maybe they just didn't like the Hunger Games.

They had good sense.

She had brought them here, brought them to their death.

It had been one night, one mistake. It should never have happened, but once it had...

Well, Sean agreed they couldn't get rid of them.

So here she was, still taking her baby to its death, with a twelve year old boy the only one who actually truly cared for her. Data rubbed her stomach. "I wish I was home."

"Don't we all?" replied Zinnia.

"Not with Sean, as much as I love him. With my parents. Safe."

Safe was a word she didn't know the meaning of any more. She remembered the look on her fake mother's face a moment before Maizie killed her.

None of them wanted to talk much about their families right now.

That was understandable. Most of them had killed something that looked like one of their family members earlier, even if it wasn't really them. Data tried not to think of the look on her not-mum's face as she burst into flames.

She wanted to go home.

She wanted to take Little One somewhere safe and never have to worry about any of this any more.

She wanted to live.

More than that, she wanted her baby to live.

She wanted them to grow up, safe - there was that word again - in a world where they didn't have to worry about dying in a death match. She wanted them to be healthy and happy and loved and have both their parents. Was that really too much to ask for?

It must have been, because at that moment the worst possible thing that could have happened happened.

Her waters broke.

Zinnia was still talking to Oliver. Gadge was chatting to Valkyrie. Maizie was sat on her own, sharpening her scythe. It all looked so ordinary. Data wrapped an arm around herself, tried to tell herself it wasn't true, that she was imagining things, but she knew that was wrong.

Valkyrie frowned and looked at her. "Are you alright?"

Data shook her head. Gadge rushed back to her side and Zinnia wandered over, looking vaguely concerned.

"What is it?" Gadge asked.

"What's going on?"

"I think I'm going into labour."

 **District Eight**

People in District Eight had always looked down at Tyla's Fire and determination driven self training. She was mocked and laughed at.

This year she had been their big chance.

She was taken away from them by chance.

In District Eight, life went on.

Tyla's parents cried for the daughter they never had time to love. Her ten year old brother, Stitch, wished he'd spent more time with her and took up training in her memory.

In a few years, when he was tall, muscular and strong, his squad of freedom fighters would be sent to District One where he would meet a still boy crazy girl whose life had been touched by the same Games as his.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Eulogies:**

 **District Eight Female, Tyla Calico (17), kill attributed to Kara Transson of District Six. Placed Fifteenth.**

Tyla was always an odd one in that both she and Silas were based around the same stereotype: the trained outer District tribute. Unlike Silas though, Tyla never planned to volunteer and had no real 'formal' training. She was a little rough around the edges and really a lone wolf who saw the benefits of an alliance. Unfortunately for her, she was one of the few tributes who made it past the bloodbath who I never considered for Victor: she was always going to die at some point. It was actually my original plan for her to be killed off by mutts (a trope which I really dislike just because it's disappointing character and plot wise), but I decided it made no sense for her to narrowly make it through the fire only to be killed by mutts a chapter later.


	40. Day Seven Part One

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

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 **District Three Male, Gadge Bishop (12)**

They were up most of the night with Data, walking in tight circles. Zinnia said she thought that was what you were meant to do, but who knew? None of them knew. How was he, a twelve year old boy, expected to know about childbirth? Yes science was his thing, but physics and chemistry and numbers, not women giving birth. That was all biology and squicky and weird.

Data slammed her hands against a tree and leant forward, panting. "I can't do this."

"You have to. For Little One."

"I can't. It's hopeless."

Gadge gripped her arm. "Try."

"Why? A baby'll never survive in the arena! I'll be giving birth so they can die!"

"That's not true!" Gadge protested, though she did have a point. More than a point actually. What were they going to do with the baby once it was born? There was no way the six of them could care for a newborn in this arena of death. The baby had a ninety five percent chance of dying a horrible death, just like them.

Except what did it do to deserve it?

It was Data's name pulled from that bowl, not her baby's.

Laurentia reaped Data.

Not Little One.

"They reaped you."

"What?"

"They reaped you. Not Little One. They can live. Do you want a boy or a girl?"

"I want a living baby!"

That was... fair. That was accurate. Gadge wanted her to have a living baby too.

More than anything.

He could wish death on his fellow tributes, even if he felt terrible for it, but at least they'd had a chance to live, and all of them had had a chance to fight.

Data's baby hadn't.

It was going to be born to die.

Gadge drew on the strength and love he never knew he had and squeezed Data's hand. "One way or another, this baby is coming. At least it will have a chance at life. None of us could kill a baby, we'll look after it! And I hope none of the other tributes could kill it either."

"He's not an it!" Data screamed.

"What?"

"He's not an it! Don't call him it!"

"You want a boy then?"

"He will be a boy."

 **District One Female, Diamond Blush (17)**

The Capitol anthem played. Diamond paused in front of the rope bridge she had come to, which lead to an island she could see had tall trees and brown land. The Capitol anthem playing any time other than an evening meant an announcement, either a feast, an arena twist like the one from a few days back, or very rarely a rule change.

"Tributes!" came the announcer's voice, ringing out all around her. "There are currently fourteen of you left. Congratulations on making it so far through level two! The gateways to level three are now open! They will stay open for six hours, but there are only twelve spots available! Good luck tributes and may the odds be ever in your favour!"

This was another event like the one a few days back then, where they had to find these gateways and race their way down. Diamond glared at the bridge to the other island and turned around. That had been a complete waste of time. On the last 'level' as the Gamemakers called it the gateway had been in the centre of the island. It was probably a good bet this one was the same.

Diamond started walking.

She was tired.

She was hungry.

She hurt all over.

She wanted a shower.

She wanted to wash her beautiful hair.

Hell, she just wanted some clean clothes.

All those things and more would be waiting for her when she won these damn Games.

 _My little sister has just made the biggest mistake in her entire life._

Had Tiara been right she wondered?

Had this all been a big mistake?

Nothing had gone right from the very beginning. The Careers were a train wreck that fell apart at the bloodbath, she was injured by some moron outer District tribute, and now here she was on day who knew what trudging through the arena on her own with no one to watch her back and thirteen other tributes still remaining.

She'd seen Games where the Careers genuinely seemed to like each other, where they worked like a true wolf pack, fought together, laughed together, died together.

Lucian had been more interested in his own reflection.

Maximus was too caught up in his family legacy.

Valkyrie was too busy being a little brat.

Orion and Astoria were too wrapped up in each other - sometimes literally Diamond believed.

And her?

What was she?

Where did she fit in?

She was too busy trying to outdo her sister, trying to prove she was better, that maybe she had missed the entire point.

"I promise I'll be better when I get home T," she said. Tears trickled down her face. Diamond didn't try to hide them. She was too ashamed of herself. "I won't be such a bitch, I'll be a better sister, I'll take care of you, and Platinum."

Fuck, Platinum!

He would never enter this living hell.

Come fire or high water, Diamond would make sure of it.

Her little brother would never have to go through what his sisters had.

"I'll be better, I can, I promise."

But first...

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

"Looks like we're moving house."

Willow was still upset at seeing Tyla's face in the sky last night.

It hurt him too. Tyla had been their ally, not just one of the other tributes, faceless, nameless.

More though, Tupelo was worried.

She was strong.

One of the strongest.

And where she lacked that strength, nowhere she was injured, Tyla had a mental strength and surety that Tupelo hadn't ever seen in anyone else.

She was a fighter.

He'd been halfway sure that at some point they'd have to confront her.

Have to kill her.

He hated that he was glad they didn't.

Someone else had done the job for them and Tyla was just one more face in the sky.

It made him feel sick.

That could be him.

That could be Willow.

She gave him a shaky smile, beautiful through it all. "Pack your bags, we're moving out."

They didn't know which way to go, but it didn't matter. Like the last time large neon signs appeared where Tupelo was fairly sure there'd been none before to show them the way.

"Following the Gamemakers' breadcrumbs," Willow said.

But to what?

These signs could easily lead them to another tribute instead of the gateway they were looking for.

They could lead them to whoever killed Tyla.

And if there were two less spaces than there were tributes on level three, maybe they wouldn't hesitate to get rid of two threats at once.

Tupelo wouldn't.

Two weeks ago, Tupelo Barker would never have had that thought.

He was willing to kill a bloodthirsty maniac, a twelve year old, a pregnant woman, to make sure he and the woman he made could live for at least another two hours.

"Hey Willow?"

"Yeah?"

"I've been thinking."

"You need a doctor my love?"

"No. I was just thinking. I don't want to win without you."

"And I don't want to live without you."

"If we win then, we do it together."

"Yes."

"And if we go down, we go down together."

Willow took his hand. "Deal my love."

He wrapped an arm around her waist and pressed his lips to hers. Music played, fireworks went off in the background, and they had one perfect moment of just each other.

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda (18)**

"I didn't have to volunteer for this," Orion said for the millionth time.

"And then I'd be here on my own, or with a bunch of strangers I couldn't trust."

"But you'd have a chance of winning."

Astoria smiled and draped her arms over his shoulders just so to show herself off and feel him against her. "We have a chance of winning," she whispered. He kissed her ear and spun her away from him with a wicked smile.

"We do this together."

"We do this together," she repeated. They were born together, they lived together, danced together, and now lived or died together. Their shadows stretched out to their right, so close they looked like one mass.

They followed the signs to the edge of the island. Most of the trees there were black and crumbling. Astoria picked up a burnt branch. "The Gamemakers are going to be pissed."

"We didn't set it alight."

"No."

But they could.

They could set it alight.

They could let it all burn.

The other tributes, this damn arena, themselves.

It would all burn.

Dancing in the flames would be kinda similar to dancing with water.

And if it all burnt, if they were the ones to light the match, they would still be the Victors.

Astoria smiled. She'd bring it up to Orion if they found a place to talk.

"There," Orion said, pointing through the burnt trees. A large stone arch was rising out of them, blue and green lights glowing around its edge.

"Pretty sure we'd have noticed that if it was there yesterday," Astoria drawled. Orion punched her lightly on the arm.

"Don't question the arena magic sister-mine. Come on."

They didn't know how many, if any, tributes had already found a gateway and got down to level three. Astoria wasn't sure what she would do if she got through and Orion didn't. She'd have to fight for both of them, live for both of them.

Astoria wasn't sure if she could.

She hesitated in front of the gateway.

"Come on."

"What if there's only one space left?"

"We won't know that until we try it." Orion took her hand. She closed her eyes and followed him through.

This gateway led to a long spiral slope leading down and down into darkness. A glowing counter spun lazily above it, reading one over twelve. One space taken.

Two tributes had to die today.

It wasn't going to be them.

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone (18)**

Day Seven, another level, and no sign of V.

He was beginning to think the Gamemakers had made a mistake.

But all he could think about was what if he made it down and V didn't?

What then?

She had been so determined to live, to win, and at twelve years old.

Max was pretty sure he never had confidence like that at twelve years old.

He was always overshadowed by his siblings, his parents, his grandfather.

But V-

V was so full of life that she deserved much more than him to be Victor.

Jasper said it himself that Jeana and Grayson favoured her over him.

They favoured her over their own brother.

Why was that he wondered.

Why did they like her more than their own flesh and blood?

Probably because she had more to her than being a musclebound, hard headed cold hearted Career.

V was a wild card.

Grayson and Jeana had always liked wild cards.

Heck, Grayson and Jeana were massive wildcards.

Massive wildcards that kept sending him cryptic damn messages, Max considered as he fingered his most recent note from them.

 _What you seek_

 _Awaits you_

 _On the other side._

 _Keep heart._

 _Take heed._

He was beginning to get really damn sick of this. Look, all he wanted was to find V, to get her out of here.

She needed to win.

She had to win.

Not him.

Not him who had nothing real to fight for.

Not him who had nothing real to live for.

Her.

She had to win.

He stopped in front of the gateway for a minute. What if he made it down and V didn't?

Then he'd have something to fight for.

Something to live for.

Because she still had a family back home that needed taking care of.

Max jogged through the gateway.

It led to a long slope that twisted downwards. He rolled his shoulders and set off down it. A counter on the wall displayed a glowing four over twelve. Eight places left.

One for him.

One for V.

The others didn't matter.

That was what they were taught in the Academy. That you stayed strong, stayed true, stayed loyal to your own. The others didn't matter. Some outer District tributes were no better than animals.

Except that wasn't true because he'd spent time with some of the outer District tributes and they were good kids.

Kids just like him.

Good kids.

Better kids than him.

The slope led to a circular landing like the one from the last level, with eleven tunnels feeding onto it, except this one sloped downward in a spiral. The centre, where last time there had been ladders and ropes, fell away into nothing like at the bloodbath. Except-

Maybe that wasn't true.

Max could see something down there.

Water?

He could also see the doors at the bottom. A pair of tributes, the two from Seven judging by the girl's red hair, were entering one of the doors. The counter changed to six. And a voice sounded behind him.

"Max!"

 **District Eleven Female, Zinnia Kane (17)**

No canons had sounded. That meant there were still eight tributes left.

Eight tributes and only six places for them to be alive in.

There were five of them in her alliance.

Six if you counted Valkyrie, which she probably should.

Fuck.

They spelled out onto the landing, Data gasping and crying and clutching her stomach.

"I can't do this," she wailed like she had been doing for the past two hours. "I can't do this! You need to leave me! They would t kill a woman giving birth!"

Zinnia didn't believe that for a second. She pulled on Data's arm, hard. "Come on."

"Max!" V shouted from ahead. And Zinnia's heart sunk to her stomach.

Max.

Maximus.

Their ally for a while from Two.

He wasn't through yet.

And that made seven of them with only six spaces.

Oliver looked up at her. He had made the connection. "Z..."

"Don't call me that. Come on, keep moving."

And maybe by the time they got to the bottom she'd have a plan.

Because this alliance might not have been what she imagined she would work her way through the Hunger Games with, but it was what she ended up with, and she didn't want to lose any of them now, even if that was an insane hope.

Only one of them was getting out of this arena alive.

Zinnia wanted it to be her or Oliver.

Oliver the boy who had stuck by her side no matter what.

Oliver the boy with a bad foot who still struggled along to stay by her side.

She had to get through one of those doors with Oliver.

Because that was why she chose him at the start of these Games, wasn't it?

That was why she chose him over all the other allies she could have had.

That was why she chose him over Maizie and Isaac and Gadge.

Because she could see herself in him.

All the pain and suffering and love and trust.

She could see it there.

That was why she chose him.

They were so close now, only a few more feet.

"Keep moving!" she shouted even as footsteps rang down the tunnel, suggesting another tribute, a fitter tribute, a stronger tribute.

The girl from One.

 **District Nine Female, Maizie Miller (16)**

Eight tributes.

Six places.

If Maizie had been a braver girl, a selfish girl, she would have suggested the obvious solution: that they run for it here and now like the Gamemakers want them to and the last two die.

If she'd been a more pragmatic girl she would have started running for a door - any door - the moment the blonde girl from One appeared and charged down the slope toward them.

Except-

Except the one most likely to die was Data.

Data who was pregnant.

Data who was actively in labour at that very moment.

And after that it would be Oliver, or if Zinnia helped him, Gadge.

It wouldn't be her.

She could have lived.

Maizie did start running ten seconds after the blonde girl from One appeared and charged down the slope toward them.

But not towards the doors.

Towards her.

They slammed into each other in a mess of arms and legs and it hurt, it hurt more than Maizie expected as the blade slid into her stomach. Her scythe - Silas's scythe - cut through the back of the other girl's neck as she forced her back. Screams and shouts rang in the background. The counter ticked up. Eight. Nine. Ten. They hit the railing at the edge of the slope. The girl from One flailed, and then there was nothing between them and empty air.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Let it be known that I have had that planned for _ages_. No, really. Since before the start of the Games even. It kinda ties in to some... Other plans. So with one foul stroke we are now down to the top twelve tributes. What do you think folks? Theories? Chances? Who do you think will die next? Who has the best shot for Victor? Lay your bets here!


	41. Day Seven Part Two

**Author's note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

Big thank you to Feniks16 for the follow and to Hopps and Dreamer for your reviews and constant support. I really appreciate everything.

Also, I have started a new poll on my profile for who you think should be in the Final Six. You can choose up to six tributes.

* * *

 **District Eleven Male, Oliver Farmer (14)**

Maizie was dead.

Maizie was dead and their alliance was another tribute down.

Maizie was dead, their alliance was another tribute down, and she had died sacrificing herself for them.

It was such a Maizie thing to do.

Oliver wished he could have done it.

At least Maizie had someone for her back home.

His family was already dead and waiting for him to join them.

Meanwhile, Data's was just beginning.

This new part of Hell was all plastic, green and gaudy. The flowers were like a child's idea, lumpy things of red, purple, yellow, and blue. The tree they saw looked like it had been made for climbing and had a neat, deep hollow under it.

They had set up camp inside a large yellow vehicle. Oliver wasn't sure what it was meant to be, but maybe those in the Capitol would know. It was rectangular, with wheels and two seats for a driver and passenger. Behind the driver's seat was a table with a smooth bench either side, and behind those and a parting wall was a toilet. Along the left wall down to the toilet was a sink and kitchen side. Gadge tried the tap but no water came out.

"That would be too easy."

Data laid on the floor, coughing and gasping and screaming.

Fuck, what did they do?

Oliver knew from looking at Zinnia what she wanted to do.

"We can't leave her," he said. "Not now."

So they stayed. Maizie gave her life for all of them after all. She gave her life so Data's baby could live, and they all knew it. Gadge held her hand and whispered to her low and fast. Data kept crying. Oliver wondered if they were airing this. Probably.

The dinging of a parachute sounded outside. Zinnia held her spear and stood to one side of the door while he opened it. No other tributes were around. He shuffled out and found the sponsor gift a few steps from the door. '3 +11' was printed on the box. He pulled it inside.

The box contained four bottles of water, a fluffy blanket, a baby's bottle, and a large syringe full of liquid with instructions attached. Gadge took that and after reading through the instructions, stabbed it into Data's back.

"This isn't how I wanted it to be," Data whispered. Zinnia knelt at her side.

"Honey, I don't think this is how anyone would want it to be."

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone (18)**

It felt unreal.

He half expected her to fade away at any moment.

But no.

Seven days in the arena and finally - finally - they were back together where he could watch out for her.

"How'd you survive the fall from the bloodbath?"

She shrugged. "Got lucky I guess."

"I thought you were dead for sure."

"I caught one of the tubes I think, slid down. It wasn't so hard." She grinned up at him. "Like pillar climbing in training."

He ruffled her hair. "Aren't you a bit young for pillar climbing?"

"I started it early."

Snuck in was probably more like it.

Never mind.

The important part was that she was here now, wherever here was, and he was going to do his damnedest to make sure she survived it.

This part of the arena was different again from the one he'd left, all rolling green land and daisies. There was no sign of anyone else.

"Twelve tributes left is a big number for day seven. And there are still some big threats out there even if Diamond's gone."

He could have killed the Nine girl. Maizie, he remembered her name was. He wanted to be the one to take Diamond out! "Astoria and Orion. The boy from Ten. The pair from Seven. The girls from Six and Eleven."

"Zinnia," V said.

"Yeah."

That was a good number of the tributes who could pose a threat. If not to him, then to V.

"We need to start hunting," he said. She nodded.

"There's no Career pack this year. That's probably why there are so many tributes left."

"Yeah, maybe." Max couldn't shake the feeling that the Gamemakers were playing with them, forcing them to follow the path they wanted like child's toys.

"I did look for you."

"I know, I was looking for you."

V smiled. "Did you mean it?"

"What?"

She raised her eyebrows. " _It_."

He'd stand by her. He'd help her to become Victor, no matter what it took. They wouldn't stab each other in the back or turn on each other like most allies did.

"Of course I did." He took her hand. "You're like my little sister."

He couldn't help wondering what his actual sister thought about it though.

She was probably loving it.

Jasper had said Grayson and Jeana preferred V for Victor over him, and Max could kinda see why. There was a lot of their wild unpredictability in her, even if she wasn't as creepy as them.

Max wanted her to live.

He wanted her to live so badly it hurt.

He wanted her to go home to her family, to save her sick sister, to make a life for herself in this world.

But for her to do that, he would have to die.

He would never see his family again.

He would let his family name down.

He would be the only Darkstone in three generations to fail.

But he wanted her to live.

 **District Six Female, Kara Transson (17)**

She had barely seen any of the other tributes since these Games started. Kara prided herself on her hatred of almost all people, but she was starting to wish she had someone to talk to. Back home she was always surrounded by people, her brothers, the children, the crowds of the streets as she robbed them.

Now she was alone, and she had never felt more lonely.

Or alive.

Or angry.

The slope had taken her down to what looked like a road in front of a large apartment building with a set of steps leading to large doors. Opposite it, on the other side of the road, was the largest stretch of water Kara had ever seen. At the other side she could see something. She dug the binoculars from her bag and took a better look. It was another piece of land, still too far for her to make out any details. She stuffed the binoculars away and glanced at the building. Her stomach rumbled. Kara was used to hunger, but not this badly. If there was food in there...

She licked her lips.

If there was food in there, she had to know. Who really cared if there was another tribute hiding in there, or the Gamemakers had turned it into a death trap.

"Come on then," she muttered. "Do your best."

They would probably take it as an actual challenge.

Kara jogged up the stairs and tried the doors, which opened. Inside were two doors, a clean blue one on the left and a dirty brown one on the right, as well as a set of stairs straight ahead. Kara knew better than to take the stairs, so she tapped between the two doors on her palm like in Six when they were trying to make a decision 'fair' (which was rare) and chose the blue door.

It led into the nicest flat Kara had ever seen, with wooden flooring, a large green beanbag, a long orange sofa, and, more importantly, a kitchen. The tap even ran! Kara drank greedily from it - she'd been out of water since yesterday now - and then refilled her canteen before turning her attention to the cupboards and fridge. There was pizza in the fridge, and she sniffed it before taking a bite.

Kara didn't mind going hungry, but it felt nice to have something filling her belly again. She shoved some of the pizza, a block of cheese and some carrots into her bag. The freezer was full of nothing but ice cream, which was nice but very impractical.

A door banged.

 _Another tribute?_

Kara drew her machete.

A man's shout of "tribute!" rang through the apartment.

 **District Four Male, Orion Achoda (18)**

They made it.

Against all odds, they were both still breathing, both still alive, here in the top twelve.

Now they just had to make it the rest of the way.

That would be the harder part of course, most of the tributes left were powerhouses in their own way.

And then there was the boy from Ten.

Colby Marshall.

The boy who already nearly took them down once.

The only one who might really realistically stand a chance against him hand to hand was Maximus. Their only chance at taking him out would be to trap him and shoot him from afar, but they both knew how well that turned out the first time.

There was a good chance, he supposed, that the Gamemakers might take him out. They had done it before with crazed, power hungry, murderous tributes.

All they had to do was stay away from him until then.

This part of the arena was all brightly coloured plastic and fabric flowers, with a little brown picket fence running through it. In the distance they could see a tall pink shape topped with purple, and that was what they were headed for. If there were any other tributes in this part of the arena, they would either be there or headed there too.

"We could have all got lucky," said Astoria. "He could have been one of the cannons earlier."

"Maybe."

Hopefully.

"But he doesn't strike me as the type to go out like that."

Colby Marshall was the kind who would want to go out with a bang, a danger to them all, causing as much bloodshed as he possibly could before his death.

"No, me neither. But a girl can hope."

She certainly could. After all, they hadn't spoken about it but Orion was fairly sure it was her the madman was after, not him. It was something about the way he had looked at him during their fight, something in his eyes when he looked at Astoria.

Orion would die before that monster laid one of his filthy fingers on her.

He had spent three years chasing creeps away from her, and he wasn't going to stop just because they were in the arena now. They were a commodity, he'd known that for a very long time, but just because they were there to be looked at and admired didn't mean that they were there to be touched.

"One of them was probably the Eleven boy. He can't walk very well with that foot, it'll have slowed him down."

Orion nodded. That made a kind of sense.

"If we're looking at it like that, the other one could have been the pregnant girl. They were allies, and the cannons were pretty close together."

"Theory's sound."

Except of course, this was the Hunger Games. Nothing could be predicted, and any of the tributes could die.

Including either of them.

Orion had a feeling that whichever of them went first, the other one might just drop dead afterwards.

Two for the price of one.

They kept walking.

 **District Three Male, Gadge Bishop (12)**

Data had stopped screaming but Gadge wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Zinnia had taken over by her legs. All he could do was hold her hand and keep talking.

"Think about Sean back home. Think about how proud he must be right now."

"Proud? Of what? I've got nothing to be proud of!"

"That's nonsense!" Zinnia snapped. "Keep going; the baby's coming!"

"I know that!"

"No, I mean I've got the head. The baby's coming!"

"See, you hear that? You're going to meet Little One, and we'll get him home to Sean."

"You better fucking mean that!"

"Of course I fucking mean that! No one in this arena is going to kill a newborn baby!"

Except maybe Sierra's District partner, the boy from Ten, but Gadge decided not to mention that.

"What are you going to do when you get him home?"

"Let him meet his father. And- take him to the fair. And- help him with his first steps. And- teach him to talk and read."

"Good. Think about that, think about what you're going to do with him."

"What are we going to do with him?"

And then a baby was crying, wailing. Zinnia held it in her arms. "Congratulations. It's a girl."

Data blinked. "It's a girl?"

"Do you want to see her?"

Data held her arms out and Zinnia passed the baby over. Data gazed down at her. She was red faced, slightly squashed looking, and still bawling. Gadge handed Data the blanket.

"You got a name?" Zinnia asked. Data looked at Gadge, and then at the baby.

"Maizie. Her name is Maizie."

Zinnia nodded and started to get up, and then Data cried out and clutched at her stomach.

"What is it?"

"Something's wrong!"


	42. Day Seven Part Three

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

Big thank you to TheAmazingJAJ for your review and to everyone else who has shown support for this fic.

* * *

 **District Three Female, Data Huxley (18)**

She knew it.

She knew something was wrong.

She'd known for days.

She'd known for weeks.

She should have seen a doctor, but it was expensive so she put it off, and now she was going to die here and her baby, her precious Little One Maizie was going to die alongside her.

"I don't think any thing's wrong," Zinnia said.

"How can you say that! I knew there was something wrong, and now it's happening!"

"Data, I think you're having twins."

Oh. Well. Didn't that change things.

"Twins?" she echoed, and her mind immediately went to the creepy dancer twins from Four who were out there in the arena somewhere.

"I think so."

But what were they possibly going to do with a _second_ baby? _One_ was bad enough, and now they'd have _two_ to take care of and rescue from this hellhole?

Data stared down at Maizie, the perfect creature she should never have brought into this world of death, and cried.

"Stop wallowing and do what you're meant to be doing!"

She wanted a nice warm bed.

A cradle for Maizie and her unborn sibling.

Clean clothes.

Water to drink.

Filling food.

Most of all though she wanted Sean, and she was pretty sure in this moment that she was never going to see him again.

She was going to die here, surrounded by virtual strangers, and he was going to raise their babies alone.

 **District Seven Female, Willow Green (17)**

Twelve of them left.

Eleven had to die for her or Tupelo to become Victor.

Her _or_ Tupelo.

Not both, because it could never be both.

Willow wasn't thinking about that right now.

She wasn't even thinking about how uncomfortable the stone floor of this cave was.

She was thinking about Tupelo, and kissing him, her hands on him and his hands on her.

When they broke apart, she did start thinking about it again.

Would she give her life for him? This boy she loved with all her heart, this boy she had known for barely two weeks? Maybe.

Because really, she had given her life for the girl she volunteered for, handed it over the moment she shouted those words.

Willow wondered if there was anything she did own right now.

Tupelo had her heart.

The Gamemakers had her life.

Hazel had her hope.

What did that leave her with?

Her love, Tupelo's heart, and a will to keep fighting.

She could only hope that that would be enough.

There was movement outside the cave. Both of them sprang up, snatched their weapons, and hid behind a conveniently placed pile of rocks.

There were only twelve of them now and no time for pity or indecision.

If this was another tribute, they would have to kill them.

The thought made Willow sick.

It wasn't another tribute. It was two what looked like very big cats, yellow in colour, with large blue eyes. One had a mop of orange fur on top of its head. The non-orange furred one smacked it away with one paw and sat down in front of the conveniently placed rocks, looking for all the world like a spoiled girl having a sulk. The orange furred one however, sniffed at the air and began to growl.

Willow held her axe tighter.

The first cat thing stood up.

The orange one growled louder and jumped round the conveniently placed rocks, which, as it turned out, did not make a good hiding place.

Large, razor sharp claws sprang from its feet, while huge fangs grew out from its mouth. It threw itself at Tupelo, while the second one jumped at Willow. They brought their axes up to defend themselves. Her blow sunk into its shoulder but didn't slow it down. Pain shot through her leg as one clawed paw ripped through her skin like paper. She drove the axe down onto it, nearly severing the paw from the leg. Tupelo was having worse luck with his, which just jumped around his swings with the bigger axe. Willow brought her axe down on the neck of her creature and its body fell to the ground, twitching. She jumped in to help Tupelo, driving her axe into one of its back legs and holding it long enough for him to decapitate it.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Willow touched her bleeding leg. The scratches were long, but shallow.

"I'll live," she said, which was indeed the primary concern when one was involved in the Hunger Games. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

They left the cave and started down the trail they followed up to it. Tupelo was quicker and turned the corner first, then turned back, pulling her into the shrubbery beside the trail.

"What is it?" Willow whispered.

"There are more of those things up ahead. Bigger ones. The ones we saw must have been babies."

 **District Six Female, Kara Transson (17)**

"You're for it this time tribute!"

It didn't sound like one of the other tributes.

It sounded like a middle aged man.

Which made no sense at all.

Unless...

Unless it was like the mutts from yesterday that looked like dead versions of her brothers.

A mutt with a human face and voice.

Either that or it was actually a middle aged man, which was a theory that made no sense at all.

Kara clutched her machete tighter and waited.

The door rattled. Kara tried to remember whether or not she had thought to lock it earlier. She must have done, because it didn't open and instead continued rattling. The man outside kept shouting.

"Tribute! When I get my hands on you-"

A red figure popped up from by the kitchen. "Oh no! Intruder alert!"

It was joined by a blue figure and a moment later a missile shot through the air. Kara brought her machete up instinctively and skewered it.

It was an orange.

They were attacking her with oranges?

More missiles flew through the air, including an apple, a pair of socks, a rubber duck, and half a shoe. Kara batted them all aside with increasing annoyance.

What the fuck?

No doubt the Gamemakers were having a good old laugh at her expense right now.

So would her brothers be if they were watching.

Kara jumped to her feet and ran at the two attackers. It was, she found, a stuffed bear and another stuffed... something. She wasn't sure what that was.

She was pretty sure she was going to kill it.

Then they both grew claws.

And fangs.

And a large set of jaws opened in the bear's stomach. What was that meant to be all about anyway?

They flew at her like wild animals, but they were still stuffed toys, and her machete chopped straight through them on the first blow, filling the room with fabric and stuffing.

The mutt at the door continued to bang on it.

Kara sighed.

This was going to be a long night.

Especially if she couldn't burn anything.

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda (18)**

The pink thing they had been headed toward turned out to be a large, plastic tower with one room inside containing a double bed, a dresser, and a small table with a bowl of fruit on it. They exchanged looks and silently emptied the bowl into their bags. Searching through the dresser revealed two long dresses, a make up kit, and a hairbrush. They left that lot be.

Not too far from the tower was a house made of similar plastic but hot pink, and stood next to it was what Astoria supposed was some kind of vehicle with a section at either side that opened out and stood propped up on metal pink shutters.

"We should stay the night here and get hunting in the morning," Orion said. "Even if we avoid the Ten boy, there are nine other tributes left."

Nine tributes that had to die before one of them could be Victor.

They let themselves into the house. It had a room on each side, a kitchen and a sitting room, and then a staircase that led up to a bedroom and a bathroom, and a smaller set of stairs that went up to an attic.

Everything was decorated in shades of pink and purple, with some occasional yellow and blue highlights,

Astoria was beginning to see a theme here.

If the aim of this section of the arena was to give her a fucking headache, they were succeeding.

The (also pink) shower in the bathroom worked, which came as a complete surprise. Who had decided to design and spend time on something like that? Astoria riffled through the wardrobe in the bedroom and found suitable clothes for them: a set of pink shorts and a crop top for her, and a set of blue cargo pants and a purple shirt for Orion. "Come on. Let's get out of these stinking clothes."

He stood guard while she stripped and stood under the lukewarm water until it had rinsed every trace of the tainted blood from her skin. No doubt they were broadcasting this live while she stood naked. Astoria grimaced at the thought and wondered where the cameras were.

She changed into the clean clothes and stood guard for Orion while he did the same. They had to keep the booties since the only shoes available were high heels in various shades of pink, which seemed... impractical in this situation. Still, it felt a hundred times better to be clean and in fresh clothes. The cynical part of her (which was nearly all of her these days) wondered whether the Capitol had aired the footage of them naked and showering. She figured they probably had.

They found three instant meals and two bottles of water in the kitchen. Stuff like that wasn't unusual at this point in the Games these days. They were called the Hunger Games, and Astoria knew that in earlier Games food had been kept deliberately limited so tributes would fight, but watching a bunch of kids die of dehydration or starve to death every year was no fun, so now stuff like this was thrown in quite often. It would seem they had scored lucky and found one.

They lit a fire to cook one of the instant meals and settled down to share it.

For now, the world was quiet, but tomorrow would be another day.

 **District Eleven Female, Zinnia Kane (17)**

There were three babies.

Three.

Fucking _three._

Sure, Zinnia had heard of it happening. They called them triplets. But the only time she'd actually come across it in her life had resulted in one of the babies and the mother dying.

These babies at least seemed healthy. Data had named the second one, a boy, Gadge, and the third, another girl, Zinnia. Because that was what she needed right now. A baby named after her.

Data...

Data did not look so good.

"You'll look after them?" she whispered, clutching at the one in her arms. "You won't let them die?"

"Of course not," Zinnia replied.

Really though, what were they meant to do with three babies? One would have been bad enough.

Gadge clutched Data's hand. "But you'll be here too to look after them, and teach them to speak, and read, and write, and take the, to the fair..."

Data smiled. "I never wanted a big family." She closed her eyes.

She didn't open them again.

Gadge shook her shoulder. "Data?"

Nothing.

He shook her again. "Data come on! Wake up! Your babies need you!

Still nothing. Her head lolled to one side.

"Data!"

A canon fired.


	43. Night Seven

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

A big thank you to HoppsHungerfan, SongofFete, HowTheHoursGoBy, and HogwartsDreamer113 for your reviews on the last chapter. I think the triplets surprised everyone!

* * *

 **District Three Male, Gadge Bishop (12)**

Data was dead.

She was dead.

Dead dead.

Never going to wake up dead.

Not going to come back dead.

Dead dead dead.

And for he first time since this whole thing started, Gadge felt truly on his own.

Sure, he had Zinnia, and Oliver, and Data's babies, but...

The babies were going to be a problem.

And Zinnia and Oliver...

They were District partners.

And like him and Data, they trusted and cared for each other more than they did for him.

Gadge was alone.

Alone alone.

And Data was gone.

He'd been speaking to her, holding her hand, and...

And now she was dead.

At least she hadn't been brutalised by another tributes.

And her Little Ones were alive.

For now.

And safe.

For now.

Gadge wet his lips.

He'd never felt so alone.

More than ever he wished he could close his eyes and open them again and he would be safe at home in District Three. He could find Data there and she wouldn't even know who he was or why he would want to talk to her, but they would both be alive, they would both be safe.

There seemed no point to this.

Throwing babies into a world like this.

Zinnia started gathering up the supplies.

"What are you doing?" Gadge asked.

"They'll want to take the body."

"Her body," Gadge corrected.

Data's body.

Because she was dead.

Dead dead dead dead.

And he was all on his own.

"We're just going to leave her here?"

"We can't take it with us. Come on."

Gadge gazed at Data's lifeless figure one last time and then gathered up two of the babies, Zinnia and Gadge. It was weird, having a baby named after oneself, but that was what Data had wanted. Oliver took the third, the one she'd called Maizie. They stepped outside to the blaring lights of a hovercraft. Three small boxes were lowered down on cables. Zinnia frowned and held her spear tight.

The box nearest them had 'Baby 1' printed on the top in bold black letters. Gadge looked at the babies in his arms, then at the box, then at the babies.

"What was it you said?" Zinnia asked. "No one wants to kill a newborn baby."

"But what do you think they'll do with them?"

"Send then home to Sean hopefully. Come on, put one in the box."

Gadge stared at the babies more. They were all he had of her now, all he had of District Three, all he had of home. But they were tiny, and innocent, and being freed.

He put baby Zinnia in the box. "Her name is Zinnia," he said. "Not baby one." Then he walked to the second box and put baby Gadge in. "His name is Gadge."

Oliver put Maizie in the third box. "Her name is Maizie."

They would stand out like sore thumbs in District Three with names like those.

But they were the names Data gave them.

The boxes vanished into the hovercraft.

When Gadge looked back at what had been their camp, he could see Data's body was gone too.

The thought of setting foot in there again made him feel ill.

The Capitol anthem played as they were walking away. Zinnia remembered the hollow under the tree and said they could set up camp there for the night. They all stopped to look up.

Data's face shone in the sky.

She was gone now.

Dead dead dead dead dead.

"Attention tributes," came the voice from nowhere and everywhere.

"Fuck it what now?" grunted Zinnia.

"We are making a slight change to the rules of these Games. If the final two tributes at the end of the Games are allied with each other as of right now, they may both be crowned victorious. Good luck tributes, and may the odds be ever in your favour."

Gadge wanted to scream.

He really did.

It would attract attention to them.

He found he didn't care.

He screamed anyway.

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

Two Victors.

Two.

So long as they were allied.

Two tributes could win.

They could both win.

He grinned. Willow stared at him. He wanted to shout out, to scream and hug her and celebrate.

He couldn't of course, because currently they were both still hiding from the very big cats he was pretty sure wanted to kill them.

But they could both win!

He could take the most amazing woman he had ever met home to meet his parents, and punch her father on the nose!

They could both win!

They could both get out of this!

Of course, first there was the slight problem of the cats.

The cats were a definite problem.

So far, they hadn't seen them in their hiding place, but every time they thought about making a move, one of the creatures would come strolling past.

But they couldn't sit here forever.

Sooner or later, the Gamemakers would decide for them.

Willow jumped to her feet and grabbed his hand.

"What are you doing?" he hissed.

"Making a break for it instead of sitting there like a stranded duck. Come on!"

Damn, he really loved this girl.

They took off down the trail at breakneck pace. Soon enough the bridge off the island was in sight and Tupelo really thought they might be in with a chance.

Then one of the bigger cats came strolling round the corner. It was a huge yellow thing, with a tangle of orange fur around its face.

Tupelo drove his axe into the top of its head. Quickly, Willow ran round to its side and slammed her axe into its neck. It roared and slashed out at them with one razor clawed paw. Tupelo wrenched his axe from its head and slammed it down on the paw, severing it. Willow drove her axe deeper into its neck. It shuddered and thrashed. Tupelo slammed his axe down on top of hers. The cat collapsed. He helped wrench her axe free. "Let's go."

They sprinted for the bridge. He could hear more of the mutts coming now, their paws slamming against the ground. He ran faster. At last they reached the bridge, a thin wooden thin. He shoved Willow onto it and jumped on behind her. They were only halfway across when the mutts reached the shore.

And stopped.

The mutts paced back and forth on the shore, but they didn't try to cross the bridge.

"They're not following. Why aren't they following?"

Willow shrugged. "Maybe they can't leave the island."

Oh.

Oh, that made sense.

They scrambled across to the other side.

Just for good measure, they destroyed the struts holding the bridge and shoved it into the water, watching it sink out of sight. Willow turned to him. "So."

"So," he said, and then the excitement broke over him all over again. "We can both win!" he shouted. "We can both go home!"

She squealed and jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He spun her round. "We could have that house, and pets, and children, and I will grow old with you! Neither of us have to die in this damned arena!"

Neither of them had to die.

But they both still could.

They still could, and that was the thought that saw him put Willow down again. They still could, and that was the thought that erased his happiness.

They could both still die.

They nearly had at the claws of those mutts.

They could be killed by another tribute.

They nearly had at the hands of Silas's and the Eleven girl's alliance.

They could be wiped out by the Gamemakers.

They hadn't had a run in like that yet, but it could happen.

It could.

They could both still die.

But they could both win.

 **District Four Male, Orion Achoda (18)**

This was done for them.

Orion was pretty sure of it.

The Capitol wanted to see their beautiful twins from Four win and become beautiful twin Victors from Four. Victors of the same Games even.

And at last they had a way out.

"We can both get out of here," he said, and gave Astoria's hand a squeeze. "We can both go home."

Home.

He hadn't thought of that in... too long.

It felt like they'd been in the arena longer than he could remember.

Training felt like a lifetime ago.

That nightmare of a reaping even more.

He felt like he could barely remember their family, picture their faces, hear their voices.

Home felt like an incredible dream.

But they could make it.

Astoria gave him a grim smile. "We're not out of the woods yet brother-mine. There are nine tributes between us and Victory."

Nine.

And it had been one of the weakest links that just died.

"Nine's not such a big number," he said.

"It's a big enough number."

"But it's not so big."

Not like twenty two.

Not like the whole world.

Even if sometimes it felt like the whole world was against them.

They still had each other.

They would always have each other.

Two halves of the same whole.

As if to prove it, their shadows were merging on the floor in front of them.

Astoria squeezed his hand tight. "The Ten boy's still out there. And so is Maximus."

Maximus was a big enough threat, Orion knew that. He'd sparred with him in training, watched him spar with trainers. He was good.

Scary good.

But there were two of them.

Or one in two bodies.

Orion wasn't sure which sometimes.

"There are two of us. There's only one of him."

"That didn't work so well against the Ten boy."

"We'll make it work." He lifted her hand to his lips. "I'm not going anywhere without you."

They had the chance now. It was right there, hanging over them, shining bright.

All they had to do was make it.

 **District Eleven Male, Oliver Farmer (14)**

Oliver didn't want to begin to imagine what Gadge was feeling right now.

Data died, and then the rule was changed.

If it had changed just that bit earlier-

It would have made no odds.

Data died from complications with the childbirth. There was nothing they could have done to stop that.

The boy from Three had screamed, once, kicked the ground, and now said nothing else.

Two Victors.

As long as they were allies.

He could go home with Zinnia.

He could win with Gadge.

But it could only be two of them.

Their problem was that they were three.

Not two.

But they weren't separating now. It would feel wrong, somehow, when they had come this far together, when they had faced all they had together, fought together and lost together. It would feel wrong to separate.

So it was him, and Zinnia, and Gadge.

Oliver felt awful for it, but he knew which one he would rather take the crown with.

The truth, though, the truth was that he would almost certainly be one of the next ones to die.

Who thought the little lame boy from Eleven would get so far?

Certainly not him.

He wondered if they were watching, back home. Eleven hadn't had tributes come this far in a while. Were they cheering them on now that there was a possibility they could both come home? Were they sending them luck and wishes before they went to bed? Were they expecting to wake up to bad news in the morning?

Then he wondered if Sage was watching, if she knew what was going on.

She was a sweet kid.

She deserved a good life.

If he lived, if he got out of here, he could give her one.

He could make her family, make himself a family.

Except he'd done that, had one of those, and now most of them were dead.

He looked at Zinnia and wondered what she was thinking about. One could never tell with her. Was she calculating which one of them would be best to take on and which one to kill?

Oliver wouldn't put it past her.

They made it to the hollow under the tree. It was big enough for all three of them and they curled up inside, bunched close together.

"I'll sit first watch," Zinnia said. Gadge wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his chin on his knees.

"It's not fair," he mumbled. "Why'd she have to die?"

Neither of them could answer that.

 **District One**

As they did for all their tributes, District One held a memorial for Diamond the day after her death, and everyone in the District wore black for three days to mourn the loss of their brave Careers for another year.

Diamond's parents nodded wisely and observed that they'd always known she wouldn't make it. She just wasn't as talented as Tiara. Their precious Tiara would throw them out of _her_ house a month later when they started badmouthing Diamond. Her brother, Platinum, would volunteer the following year, and the Blush family would face the pain of having lost all three of their children to the Games.

Tiara Blush became a bit of an oddity in District One, a Career Victor who hated the Games. In time, maybe she would be the one to talk the Career recruits at the academy into seeing they were throwing their lives away and joining the rebellion to attack the peacekeeper barracks in the dead of night. Or maybe she would continue her lonely, drunken life.

 **District Nine**

District Nine was used to their tributes dying, but Maizie had done something that hadn't been done in a long time. She had selflessly sacrificed herself for the lives of her allies (and one ally in particular). Most of the District turned out for her funeral. She would be buried next to her brother.

Her mother would join them six months later after inadvertently starving herself to death.

 **District Three**

Mass uprisings broke out in District Three during Data's labour, the citizens there furious at her treatment. Outright rebellion broke out after her death. The town hall was burnt to the ground, as was the Capitol embassy. Any Capitolites in the District had to be quickly evacuated.

All in all, it took six weeks to settle the rebellion in District Three. Countless citizens and peacekeepers alike were killed.

Even then District Three never forgave and never forgot. They said her name as a symbol and wore her death as a scar on their hearts. If a rebellion was to come, District Three would be the first to agree.

Data's children, Maizie, Gadge, and Zinnia, were kept in a neonatal unit in the Capitol for those six weeks and closely monitored. Maizie would have problems with her heart and Gadge with his lungs. After the uprisings, they were returned to their father, Seam, who tried to shield them as best he could from being seen as symbols by the rest of the District.

They would grow to be tough and resilient, but with their mother's heart and intelligence. Maybe by the time they turned eighteen the Hunger Games would be a thing of the past, or maybe the Capitol would reap them one by one to remind the District's there would never be any hope.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Well, wasn't that a cheery end to the chapter?

So here we are at long last, at the end of the long haul that was day and night seven. Why yes, it was in four parts. Just because I felt like it.

 **Eulogies**

 **District One Female, Diamond Blush (17), killed by Maizie Miller of District Nine. Placed Fourteenth.**

Ah, Diamond. Diamond was... well, a lot of things. She was something I saw a lot of a while back, an overlooked, angry, bitter, Victor's relative. She was the beautiful and deadly District One girl. Admittedly, her vain, ditziness did get lost somewhere along the line. I think I'd have liked to see Diamond go further and gain some sort of closure in her arc with Max and V, but not everyone can have complete storylines or smooth arcs in the Hunger Games. I'm afraid that unlike many of my other dead tributes, this was in fact always Diamond's planned fate.

 **District Nine Female, Maizie Miller (16), killed by Diamond Blush of District One. Placed thirteenth.**

Maizie! Oh gosh, this was actually one of the few tribute deaths that has actually hurt! Maizie was of course the sibling/family member of a tribute who has died in the Games. She was also the happy, bubbly girl, though that went down a bit as the story went on I think. Maizie was actually one of my favourite characters to write for, especially with her internal thoughts. I did consider her for a Victor for a bit, but like Diamond, this has been her planned arc and end for a while now. I just didn't account for how much it would hurt! As Oliver said though, sacrificing herself for her allies was such a Maizie thing to do, and I couldn't agree more.

 **District Three Female, Data Huxley (18), died in childbirth. Placed twelfth.**

As everyone guessed immediately, Data was the stereotypical pregnant tribute, who we almost always seem to see as being heavily pregnant. Data was always quite a difficult one for me, but I did enjoy developing her and writing her relationship with Gadge. The big problem with pregnant tributes is of course that when they die, it kills off the baby too, and no one wants that. I know Hopps in particular was quite adamant there should have been more of a reaction to her being pregnant. There was meant to be, but I'm just not good at writing that sort of thing. Yes, this was always always always what I was going to do with her. I've known this from the very beginning. This moment with her alliance is in fact what most of their story and storylines have been leading up to.

* * *

So there we have it! Three tributes have died on Day Seven. There are now eleven left, and they're faced with a stereotypical plot twist: we can have two victors as long as they are currently allies. Take your guesses on how that could develop and end. Also, feel free to drop a vote on the poll on my profile!


	44. Day Eight Part One

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

A big thank you to Fizzerpeas for your favourite, and HowTheHoursGoBy and HogwartsDreamer113 for your reviews!

There is now a new poll up on my profile with all the combinations for potential victors alone and in pairs. Feel free to drop a vote for who you would like to see win!

* * *

 **District Three Male, Gadge Bishop (12)**

It was unfair.

It was sickeningly unfair.

It was gut wrenchingly, sickeningly unfair.

It was heartbreakingly, gut wrenchingly, sickeningly unfair.

It was fucking unfair!

Data was dead and _now_ they changed the rules?

The one person of all of them who most deserved to go home was dead and _now_ they changed the rules?

It wasn't fair!

It wasn't fucking fair!

He could still go home with Oliver or Zinnia, but only one of them.

He would rather have had Data.

Data was his friend.

They were his allies.

His allies who had stuck by him, but his allies all the same.

He wanted to go home with Data.

He should have gone home with Data.

Of course, that was assuming he got to go home at all.

There were very, very few twelve year old Victors.

Statistically, the numbers said he shouldn't have got this far.

Statistically, the numbers said he should be the next one to die.

He wondered who would be the one to do it.

Would it be one of the remaining Careers, the beautiful twins from Four or their former not-quite-allies Maximus and Valkyrie? Or Sierra's enormous monster of a District partner? Or the girl from Six, she was still out there somewhere, and had always seemed a little... unhinged.

Or would it be one of his own allies?

Zinnia or Oliver.

Could they do it?

They were all armed.

Could one of them drive a knife through his back and stop his heart beating, end his lift?

Gadge wanted to think that they wouldn't - that they couldn't! - but the truth was he couldn't.

He couldn't bring himself to do it.

Because from what he'd seen of Zinnia, she would drive a knife through his back in a heartbeat if she thought it would save her and Oliver.

She'd end his life in a second if she thought it would save their own skins.

He hated that thought.

They had fought together, struggled together, survived together- but she would betray him in an instant if she needed to.

Or even if she didn't need to.

There were eleven of them left now - eleven, and not one of them was Data - and one of them was her District partner, the boy who promised to support her no matter the cost or consequence.

And that was before that fucking unfair rule change.

Why would she keep him around?

Him, the twelve year old District Three boy.

Him, who had no links to her.

Him, who had just watched his District partner die in front of him.

Why would she keep him?

Why should she keep him?

What was stopping her from just declaring alliance dissolved and sending him off his separate way for the first time since he'd entered this arena?

Something must be, because she hadn't done it, and that was the only thing stopping Gadge himself from declaring the alliance dissolved.

Because they'd stuck by each other so far.

Why should they not stand strong now?

And if they were the final three?

Well.

He couldn't kill his friends.

And no one could make him.

 **District Six Female, Kara Transson (17)**

The human mutt banged on the door for what felt like ages, but was probably closer to an hour, and then stopped shouting.

Didn't mean it wasn't still out there though.

But she couldn't stay here. She was trapped like a dog in a trap. She shifted the weight of her bag on her shoulders and turned the door handle.

For a moment there was silence and then a furious shout.

A large figure in a brown trenchcoat charged at her. She swung her machete up in defence. The man kept moving. She ducked around him. He waved what looked like a sharpened broom at her. She deflected it with her machete and jumped aside. The broom slammed into her backpack. She twisted to his side and plunged the machete into his neck.

Blood spurted out, spraying her with crimson.

Kara had seen people die before.

Kara had killed people before.

It had never been quite this messy.

He gasped for air, still rasping 'tribute' and swinging the broom at her as his body collapsed to the floor.

Kara kicked it.

"Fuck you."

At least she could get out the building now.

She was certain the Gamemakers would force her into a confrontation with another tribute soon. So far she'd had almost no run-ins.

One was long overdue.

With the exception of the boy from Ten, Kara was pretty sure she could beat them all.

She'd slaughter them like that mutt back there.

They'd done nothing to her, she could make it quick, but they would die and everything would burn all the same.

Ashes to ashes.

She shifted her backpack again, picked a direction, and started walking. Direction didn't really matter if the Gamemakers wanted her to fight with another tribute.

On the other hand, maybe they had been keeping her away from the other tributes.

She wondered if they were worried about her trying to set them alight and smiled at the thought.

This entire world would burn if that was what it took.

 **District Seven Female, Willow Green (17)**

She hurt all over, and the scratches from the cat creatures stung like crazy, but at least hers had started to scab over.

Tupelo's though.

Tupelo's kept opening up again and were turning purple.

That couldn't be a good sign.

Willow washed them out with boiled seawater - at least they had plenty of that now - and wrapped them with torn strips of the blanket from her rucksack.

"Some kind of infection," Tupelo said.

"It'll be fine. We're popular, Hazel will get us medicine."

Except medicine like that would be expensive at this point in the Games. There were only eleven of them left - and two could win together, if they were allies.

Like her and Tupelo.

They could both win.

They could both go home.

They could get married, have their children-

Except Tupelo's wounds were inflamed, and they had only gotten worse through the night.

Unless that Victory came soon, he might not make it.

Impulsively, Willow leaned in to kiss him. "Don't you die on me now. You have to make an honest woman of me, and get me that house and those children we talked about."

He smiled weakly. "Absolutely."

Except-

Except there were still eleven tributes left.

Nine other than them that they had to get past.

Nine other than them that had to die for them to go home and have their house and children and life.

Nine children who had to die for theirs to live.

Willow had seen the face of the girl from Three in the sky the night before.

She had been pregnant.

Heavily pregnant.

Her child would be dead now.

The Capitol had probably thought it was great entertainment, better than her and Tupelo's battle with the big cats.

That might not have even been broadcast, or only shown on small screens, in small clips, except in District Seven where everyone would be watching with baited breath to see if they were about to loose both their tributes at once.

That had happened a few years ago. Their tributes were allies, like her and Tupelo now - District loyalty was better than loyalty to a stranger - and were attacked by a pack of mutts in the Top Eight.

They were both torn to shreds.

There had been riots in District Seven, for the Capitol to have so carelessly taken out both their tributes in an incident that didn't have to happen, but of course no one listened and no one cared. The Games went on.

Willow saw the boy's mother around town sometimes. He had been her only child. She looked so broken.

How many families would be like that after these Games?

How many parents missing their children?

At least twenty one.

Too many.

Sometimes Willow wondered what might have happened if the Capitol lost the war during the Dark Days, if the Districts won. Would there have been a Capitol version of the Hunger Games going on right now, with her sat at home cheering for her favourite?

Fuck she hoped not.

The very idea seemed sick and made her stomach churn.

"I love you," Tupelo whispered.

"I love you too," she replied, and the words felt like death in her mouth.

 **District Ten Male, Colby Marshall (18)**

So far the only life he'd seen on this level of the arena was a funny looking four legged purple thing with a long neck.

Colby didn't even want to know what that was meant to be.

He was itching for a fight.

He was in the arena wasn't he?

So why was it the only person he'd gotten to kill was that one wimp in the bloodbath?

He hadn't even managed to get his hands on those twins from Four!

(but he still wanted those, still craved them, remembered the boy's movements as he fought and the girl's lithe figure that he just had to have)

He would have those two yet.

It was just a matter of time.

And time was something they were running out of.

It was Day Eight, the Capitol wanted a show!

And as soon as he found someone, he'd give them one.

A funny looking bat thing glided overhead, screeching.

On second glance, Colby wasn't sure it was a bat. It had a sharp looking beak and even sharper looking claws.

He picked up the pace a little.

He was following the shoreline of the island. If this level was anything like the others, he was bound to find a bridge soon. There was no sign of other tributes on this island, so he needed to move on.

If he got lucky - really lucky - he might even find the pair from Four.

He wet his lips.

Fuck he wanted that girl.

He really did have to have her.

Finally a bridge came into sight. It was a thin rope one, strung out across the water. Colby grasped the sides and put one foot on the rope. It didn't feel strong enough to hold his weight, but it proved good and he slowly made his way across.

The next island looked like some kid's playground, black Tarmac with slides and a roundabout with a building that looked like a child's playhouse attached and surrounded by green fields like those of his home of Ten.

Colby wondered how many of his girls they'd dug up since he'd been gone.

They did find them occasionally.

It didn't matter.

He'd find new ones.

There was already one that he wanted.

Voices floated on the wind. A boy and a girl. Colby's heart jumped. He hefted his club and worked his way around the playground. At the other side, next to the wall of the building, were two tributes. One, the boy, was leaning against the wall, the other, a girl with red hair, was leaning over him.

Colby's smile widened. The lovers from Seven. Oh, this was perfect. And if the boy was injured, he could take the girl and make him watch as he took her and killed her slowly, then kill him afterward.

Perfect.

This would be so much fun.


	45. Day Eight Part Two

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

Content warning for this chapter generally being the Hunger Games.

Big thank you to Dreamer for your review last chapter, GeorgeMellark6 for your follow and Fizzerpeas for your favourite and review.

* * *

 **District Two Female, Valkyrie Slate (12)**

There were now four giant, babbling, multi-coloured… things following them around.

Also they had weird stick things on top of their heads and grey screens in their stomachs.

So far they seemed harmless so she and Max were leaving them alone. It would be four on two if they started a fight.

They were still a bit weird though.

V wondered what had possessed the Capitol to create them.

"You think they're dangerous?" she asked. Max gave them a grim look.

"I've never seen any mutts that aren't."

He had a terrifyingly good point.

The red one waved its mittened hands at them and babbled. V bared her teeth and growled. Much to her surprise it backed off, squeaking in surprise.

Huh.

She growled and waved her hands at the yellow one. It hurried away, squawking. Max smacked her round the head. "Stop it."

"Why?"

"You might make them angry."

"They seem pretty cowardly."

"So do a lot of mutts, until some idiot tribute makes them angry. Stop it."

She rolled her eyes. "Spoil sport."

"Brat."

She stuck her tongue out at him. He pulled at her plaited hair. The mutt creatures 'ooo'd and waved their arms around.

Fuck they were weird.

"What do you think they're meant to be?"

Max shrugged.

"You know what they remind me of?"

"You're going to tell me, aren't you?"

"Children's toys."

Max glanced at the mutts again. "I see your point."

The mutts – which did look a bit like oversized stuffed toys – giggled and waved their arms around, babbling their nonsense.

V sighed and dragged her arm across her eyes, leaving a smear of black dirt like a bandit's mask.

When she volunteered she never really thought about it.

She never expected the chaos when she made the plan.

She never expected any of this.

There should have been a Career pack for her to stick with, but instead it had fallen apart in the first ten minutes. In the first three, even.

Because of her.

Diamond came after her.

The Career pack broke apart because of her.

Then she wandered through the arena on her own. She should have had allies and faced threats, but instead there was nothing.

It was like she was a character in a badly written story.

The mutt creatures babbled again, and the triangle on the purple one's head glowed whitish purple. Max narrowed his eyes. V fingered one of her knives. The stick on the green one's head glowed. Max grabbed her hand. "Run."

 **District Eleven Female, Zinnia Kane (17)**

Her.

Oliver.

Gadge.

Maximus.

Valkyrie.

Orion.

Astoria.

Sierra's District Partner.

The girl from Six.

The pair from Seven.

Eleven tributes remaining.

Her.

Oliver.

Gadge.

Three people in their alliance.

Her.

Oliver.

Gadge.

Maximus.

Valkyrie.

Orion.

Astoria.

Sierra's District Partner.

The girl from Six.

The pair from Seven.

Eleven tributes remaining.

Two of them could win.

Two Victors.

But-

Her.

Oliver.

Gadge.

There were three people in their alliance.

Only two of them could win.

One of them had to die.

Zinnia looked at the two young boys who were her allies.

She knew which one she would choose.

Only one of them had been at her side all along.

Only one of them came with her from her home District.

Only one of them said he wanted to see her become Victor.

But-

Did that mean the other one deserved to die?

He was just a kid!

Except-

If it came down to just the three of them, what did they do?

If it came down to just the three of them-

If it came down to just the three of them, there could only be two Victors.

And Zinnia knew which ones she would pick.

Gadge had been sullenly quiet since Data's death. They could hardly blame him for that.

Logically, they ought to dump him.

He was dead weight, and an extra liability they didn't need.

(although if she was to argue that, Oliver would count too with his bad leg)

But-

Somehow she couldn't see herself doing that.

He was just a kid!

Daisy's age!

She couldn't leave him.

And she couldn't kill him either.

So they were stuck with him for now.

She had lost track of the days, so she didn't know how long 'for now' was going to end up being. It was just 'for now,' at least, until it wasn't any more.

She tightened her grip on her spear.

Her.

Oliver.

Gadge.

Maximus.

Valkyrie.

Orion.

Astoria.

Sierra's District Partner.

The girl from Six.

The pair from Seven.

Eleven tributes remaining.

There could only be two Victors.

That meant there were nine tributes out here somewhere that had to die before she could go home. She would drive her spear through their chests herself to make sure it happened.

One of them would be one of her allies.

And Zinnia was still hesitating on which one it was meant to be.

 **District Seven Female, Willow Green (17)**

He came out of nowhere.

How he could sneak up on anyone she wasn't sure, but the first they knew of him was when he started charging across the playground.

Willow grabbed Tupelo's hand, pulled him to his feet, and started to run.

They abandoned the bag with the tent because it was too heavy, and struggled across the open ground. If they could just find some actual trees, instead of these baby saplings, they might have a chance.

But the boy charging after them ran like a bull, quickly gaining ground on them. Tupelo drew his axe. "I'll hold him back."

"What?"

"I'll hold him back! Go!"

"I'm not leaving you!" She unhooked her own axe from her belt. "We do this together."

"Don't be crazy!"

"You want to sacrifice yourself and I'm the crazy one?"

"Willow!"

And then he was right on top of them.

They were outmatched by his sheer size, but there were two of them and she was smaller and quicker while Tupelo was faster and more used to wielding his weapon.

It was just them now.

There was no back up, no one to shout advice or orders.

If they messed up, they would die.

Game Over.

And they just had to be found by the most dangerous tribute in the arena.

He had been the big threat since the beginning, since the reaping when he nearly killed his escort, since the parade when he knocked his tiny sweet District partner from their chariot, since she saw him stomping around in training. He was a bigger threat than the Careers this year.

It just had to be him.

Willow had to wonder if the Gamemakers were doing this deliberately. There could be two Victors now, they could both win and go home, she didn't have to lose the love of her life-

And then they were attacked by giant cat mutts.

And now they run into him.

It was official.

They were doomed.

How could they have ever hoped to get through this?

How could she have ever been so stupid as to fall in love?

And yet-

There he was, the boy she loved more than anything in the world, the young man who had been willing to die so she could live.

For a moment – and only a moment – Willow wondered if she should have taken him up on the offer.

Then she asked herself what she was thinking that she would think something like that. She loved Tupelo, loved him more than anything, and if they were going to fight, they fought together, both of them.

They faced this together.

So she ducked and dodged, striking out at the small giant with her axe, leaving a long line of blood down his left arm. He didn't seem to care. It didn't even slow him down.

Willow wondered if he was secretly part machine.

And then the club slammed into her chest, knocking the air out of her, throwing her backwards onto the hard ground.

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

He heard the scream before he knew it was his. "Willow!"

She was on the ground.

She wasn't moving.

She wasn't moving.

She wasn't moving.

She was on the ground and she wasn't moving.

She was on the ground and she wasn't getting up.

"Willow!"

The boy from Ten smiled, like he was just taking a walk, and Tupelo dodged a swing from his big club. The scratches on his leg tore open – again – and he felt them begin to weep blood he really couldn't afford to lose.

"Willow!"

She moved, rolled, started to get up-

And the boy from Ten kicked her in the head.

Blood gushed from her nose and lip.

Tupelo roared and lunged forward. "Willow!"

All he could see was her scarlet hair and the crimson blood staining her pale skin.

He couldn't lose her.

Willow, who was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.

Willow, who was the bravest person he'd ever met.

Willow, who was the strongest person he'd ever known.

He couldn't lose her.

The boy from Ten punched him in the face.

He wasn't any less strong than he looked.

Tupelo staggered back, dazed, and dropped his weapon as stars flashed in front of his eyes. Willow stumbled to her feet. The boy from Ten grabbed her and kissed her. She shrieked, tried to push him away. He dropped his club and pushed her up against the wall.

Tupelo scrabbled for his axe.

The boy from Ten pulled back and drew Willow away, then slammed her against the wall. Her head cracked against the stone. He took a handful of her scarlet hair and slammed her head against the brick again and again.

Her struggles got less. She clawed at his hands.

She was the best person Tupelo had ever met.

He finally managed to find his axe and wrapped his fingers around the solid wood handle.

Willow stared blankly into the distance.

She was the bravest person Tupelo had ever met.

He drove his axe into the giant's neck.

Blood spurted from the wound. He stumbled, staggered, let go of Willow. Her body slid to the ground. The boy from Ten turned on Tupelo, staggering toward him. Tupelo raised his axe, drove it into the other side of his neck, ripped it out, and did it again.

Just like the big cat mutts.

Nothing but a big cat mutt.

Nothing but a big cat mutt.

Nothing but a big cat mutt.

The boy from Ten crashed to the ground.

A cannon fired.

Tupelo stumbled over to Willow on uncooperative feet and fell to her side.

She wasn't moving.

Blood pooled around her.

The left side of her skull was visibly indented.

"Willow," he whispered, touching her shoulder and hoping against hope to see her stir. "Willow."

She smiled. "I love you."

"I love you too. Stay with me, I'll make sure you get help. It'll be alright, you'll be alright."

"Win for us."

"Don't say that, you're going to be fine! Willow! Willow?"

A second cannon rang out and he was left alone lying in the blood of the woman he loved.


	46. Night Eight

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

A big thank you to SongofFete, HowTheHoursGoBy and Dreamer for your reviews!

* * *

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone (18)**

The mutts, which had looked so harmless, were now erratically shooting bolts of white light at them.

Wonderful.

Just what they needed.

"Are you happy now?" he shouted.

"No, not really!" V replied.

This was one hundred times worse than the other parts of the arena he'd been through.

When his siblings competed and won their Games, they made it look so easy. First Grayson, who swept through his arena like a whirlwind at only seventeen, the youngest tribute from Two in ten years, cutting down his opponents with his sword. Then Jeana, who went in the year after. Her Games were a Quell, the 125th, where all kids at the reaping were given one slip in the bowl and an equal chance.

It didn't matter in Two where they always had volunteers.

Max was pretty sure the popularity Jeana had at the time came from her being a Legacy rather above anything else. She and Grayson were not the most popular these days.

Jasper was the last before him, quiet, bookish Jasper who their parents had accused of being a coward and a wimp for years.

In the arena it was like all his emotion turned off.

He became some sort of machine.

Max held tight to V's hand.

He'd been determined that wouldn't happen to him during his Games. That was why he'd joined Zinnia's alliance, that was why he'd ended up so close to V when she could die any moment.

Except she wasn't going to die.

He wouldn't let her.

They could both get out of here alive.

He would live up to his family legacy and she could go home to her family, get that medicine for her sick family.

A shot of white burnt past his arm. Water appeared in front of them, and a short way away, stretched out over it, was a bridge.

"There!" V shouted unnecessarily, pointing at it. Max pulled her toward it.

"Come on!"

At the back of his mind, he was all too aware of the fact that in order for them to win, the other tributes would have to die. They would have to kill some of them.

But then again, wasn't that what he trained for?

A cannon rang through the air.

Ten left.

Eight tributes who had to die before he and V could go home.

They reached the bridge and he pushed V onto it. It was a rickety wooden thing with no sides, stretched over dark blue water where he couldn't see the bottom.

Max could swim, but there had to be a reason the Gamemakers had given them a bridge.

He didn't really want to know what that reason was.

The things stopped firing once they were halfway across. The bridge was right there, but none of them tried to step onto it.

A second cannon came.

Another tribute down.

Nine left.

Seven tributes who had to die before he and V could go home.

They could do that.

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

Willow was dead.

He couldn't get up.

He couldn't move.

He couldn't leave her.

He couldn't leave her.

He couldn't leave her.

He couldn't move.

He couldn't get up.

Willow was dead.

What was the point?

What was the point of anything any more?

They were so close!

They could have both gone home!

He just had to get in the way.

Had to destroy things.

And now-

Now what did he have?

He'd never loved anyone like this before, and he never would again. There was no one else like Willow, there would never be anyone to replace her.

He gripped her shoulder, whispered for her to wake up.

She didn't.

Of course she didn't.

Of course she fucking didn't.

In the stories back home, a kiss of true love could break a magic curse, or even bring back the dead.

He kissed her.

She didn't wake up.

Of course she didn't.

Of course she fucking didn't.

That was just a story, nonsense told to children.

Nothing could bring back the dead.

Nothing was going to bring her back, no matter how much he cried or begged or pleaded.

She was never going to wake up.

He had to get up.

He couldn't.

He had to move.

He couldn't.

He had to.

He had to.

He had to.

For her.

For Willow.

He had to do this for both of them now.

He closed his eyes, breathed.

She was dead.

The monster from Ten was dead.

There were nine of them left.

Eight tributes who had to die before he could go home, before he could live his life and Willow's too, before he could have their house, and children, and he would name the girl after her and teach them about her when they were old enough.

But first he had to go through eight other tributes.

Eight tributes who all had families to go to just like him, who had parents and siblings who loved them.

Eight tributes who would fight for it just like him.

He had to be stronger than them.

He had to be stronger than all of them.

He was stronger than them.

He was stronger than all of them.

He had killed the boy from Ten.

He had killed Silas.

He had killed two of the biggest threats in this arena.

He could do this.

He forced himself to his feet and took the backpacks, his and Willow's.

It was only him now.

He had to win for both of them.

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda (18)**

There were a lot of mutts in this part of the arena, but so far they seemed to be harmless, and neither of them wanted to push things by making them angry. Mostly they looked like animals who walked on two legs and asked them to do things or get them things if they got too close. So far they had seen a dog one, a dolphin one, and a squirrel one that she had identified, along with a number of others that she couldn't identify.

They came across a large wooden house as the sun was starting to set, exchanged looks, and decided that would make a good place to spend the night. They didn't need to talk. Any other tributes who came by would likely choose it as well anyway, so it wasn't like they would be missing anything.

They stopped either side of the door and Orion nudged it open.

Nothing happened.

Orion stepped inside, holding the trident defensively in front of him. Astoria slipped in behind him. It was one room, with a display of bugs in cases on the right, but otherwise empty. They quickly scouted out the area underneath and behind the bug cases, finding nothing.

Orion nodded. "This'll do."

Astoria hummed her agreement. This would do just fine as a camp for the night, away from the elements and easily defendable.

They set up at the back of the room. As they were finishing, the anthem played.

"Let's see who it was," Astoria said, walking toward the door. Orion followed close behind.

The first face was a surprise.

The boy from Ten.

The beast that nearly killed them both.

He was gone.

The second was the girl from Seven, not too much of a surprise now that there were less than half the tributes left.

"Who do you think it was?" Orion asked softly, still staring at the sky long after the images had faded.

"Maximus," she replied. "It has to have been. There's no one else could have stood up against him. The pair from Seven probably turned on each other."

That was what allies started doing at this point. There were only nine of them left, so they started bickering, fighting with each other. The pair from Ten in the Games three years back both went out like that, killing each other in an argument over food rations.

She and Orion didn't have to worry about that.

They would never betray each other.

They were part of each other.

 **District Eleven Male, Oliver Farmer (14)**

"There are three of us," Gadge said.

"Well done, you can count," replied Zinnia.

"There can only be two Victors."

Oliver had to admit, that thought had crossed his mind. He concentrated on fighting his way through the long grass.

"One of us has to go."

Zinnia stared fixedly ahead. "I know."

"It'll be me, won't it?"

She frowned down at him. "Why would you say that?"

"I'm the outsider. You and Oliver, you're District partners. Statistically-"

"Fuck statistics," Zinnia snapped. Gadge jumped.

"But-"

"We don't know what might happen in the next thirty seconds, never mind the end of these Games. Someone might make the decision for us. I'm not going to kill either of you. So unless you or Oliver decide you want to pointlessly stab one of us in the back, you're safe."

Gadge gawped at her. "But I thought- You-"

"Just keep up kid."

That was easier said than done for Oliver, but he did his best. If Zinnia was going to dump anyone, it really ought to be him, but now that she'd made it clear she wasn't going to get rid of either of them…

The long grass opened into a clearing of three buildings, two small square white and red ones and a slightly larger rectangular yellow one. Oliver tripped and nearly fell having got used to having to fight his way through the long grass. Gadge caught his arm. "Careful."

He smiled. "Thanks."

 _One of them had to die._

Zinnia made her way cautiously over to the buildings. Oliver and Gadge followed at a distance. There was no one around.

"I wonder what they'll do with all this when the Games are over," Gadge said thoughtfully. Zinnia shrugged.

"Probably turn it into the Capitol equivalent of an arcade."

Oliver hadn't been in an arcade in years, not since he was little and his father took him. Zinnia opened the door to the yellow building. It was empty except for three cardboard figures of people.

Zinnia stabbed them all with her spear just to be careful.

The smaller houses were both empty as well. Since it was dark by that point, they chose the second to stay in overnight. Zinnia took first watch.

It was strange how easily they'd fallen into routine.

Outside the arena, the Capitol and District Eleven, felt like forever ago.

If it meant they could all live, Oliver would have quite happily stayed there like that forever.

 **District Ten**

Nobody mourned for Colby Marshall.

Not his family, not his neighbours, and certainly not District Ten.

As the years went on, they found more and more bodies of victims, all young women, all aged between sixteen and twenty one.

Some of them were too far decomposed for identification even to be made, though there were only so many families with missing daughters of that age, and they agreed to have them buried together to give them a place to mourn and the girls safety in numbers.

One good thing did come out of it, and that was that District Ten became incredibly paranoid about safety. Children, girls especially, were taught never to be alone and trained in how to protect themselves.

When the peacekeepers tried to beat them into submission, they found the people of District Ten were more than willing to protect themselves.

 **District Seven**

If no one mourned for Colby Marshall, then an entire District mourned for Willow Green. She gave her life so a younger girl could win and died fighting.

Riots rose up against Alder Collins, the man behind the reason for her volunteering. He had to lock himself in his house for protection.

A month after the Games ended, the house burnt to the ground – with him still inside.

Whispers and rumours spoke about Willow's little sister, Dara Green, but none could prove it and no one acted out against her.

Maybe Dara Green would live a long and happy life, bearing two children she named Tupelo and Willow and working as a botanist. Maybe she would be reaped three years later and go down in a vengeful blaze of glory, or maybe she would live a little longer to lead uprisings and die in a gunfight with a smile on her lips.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

 **Eulogies:**

 **District Ten Male, Colby Marshall (18) killed by Tupelo Barker of District Seven**. **Placed eleventh.**

Welp, this wasn't meant to happen here. I know I've said that for a few tributes, but really, it wasn't. I had very solid plans for him to die in about three chapters' time in ninth place. It was all planned out and everything. So what happened? Well, logic happened. Because of the way the fight played out, it felt like logically I could only end it two ways: a) both Willow and Tupelo die (killed by Colby) or b) Willow and Colby died (as shown). So yeah, this won out and now my plan has been damaged. Colby, as you all knew and said, was of course the unstoppable powerhouse. Since this is a parody, I took it incredibly far with him, making him an actual murderer and very unbelievable as a character. Really, if someone like Colby had been running around the Districts, he would have been executed years ago.

 **District Seven Female, Willow Green (17), killed attributed to Colby Marshall of District Ten**. **Placed tenth.**

Willow was at first just the typical District Seven lumberjack tribute with a terrible tree related name and of course a play on the star-crossed lover trope (taken a bit far at times). Then people (mostly Hopps tbh) started suggesting more tropes, and since she was one of the few without anything really big attached to her, she had other tropes pushed onto her: the tribute who volunteers for a random twelve year old, and the girl trying to escape an arranged marriage. Her death was meant to happen here (woohoo!). Back when I first started this story, I had Willow's placement listed as being roughly twelfth. So this isn't far off!

* * *

Another shoutout to Dreamer who did manage to predict what happened last chapter! Also, the poll for who you want to see become Victor(s) is still open, so feel free to drop a vote.


	47. Day Nine Part One

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

Big thank you to Dreamer for the review on the last chapter!

* * *

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

Willow was dead.

Willow was gone.

Dead.

Gone.

He had to keep telling himself that.

With every step he took he expected to see her there at his side. With every pained breath he made he thought he'd hear her laugh.

He never did.

He hauled the supplies away from the bodies and spent an hour rooting through them for what was useful and what he could throw. One person did not need that many hats, no matter how cool looking they were, and nor did one person need two jackets or three blankets. He did keep all three boxes of matches though. You never knew when that kind of thing would come in.

There was very little food, only a jar of peanut butter and a pack of crackers, but he had a good amount of water.

He could do this.

He could make it.

He had to.

For Willow.

In his head he painted the picture again, their house, their children, the image he was fighting for.

That was what waited for him back home.

(but not Willow, Willow never would because Willow was dead. His life would always have a hole in it)

Tupelo held his head high and made himself keep walking.

As he walked, he turned over whose faces he had seen in the sky and the tributes that still remained.

The pair from One were both gone, that was one set of Careers down.

The pair from Two were still around, but one of them was a twelve year old girl.

The pregnant girl from Three was out, but her District partner was in.

The twins from Four were both still alive.

The pair from Five he could barely remember. They must have gone down early.

The boy from Six went in the bloodbath. The girl was still alive.

Both from Eight were dead, as were both from Nine and Ten.

The pair from Eleven were still in.

The pair from Twelve were out.

He might have a chance.

There were five big threats now: the boy from Two, the pair from Four, the girl from Six, and the girl from Eleven.

But then there were only nine of them left.

And the Capitol would want some bloody action.

Well, he could give them that.

At least one of those tributes would be on her own.

Tupelo had to fight for the future he saw every time he closed his eyes.

 **District Three Male: Gadge Bishop (12)**

Zinnia said they wouldn't turn on each other but he still felt unconvinced.

That was the least of his problems right now though.

The bigger problem was the large green… thing facing him with two vines that kept trying to wrap themselves around his neck.

That was definitely a bigger problem than his potentially unreliable allies right now.

Gadge screamed.

"Zinnia! Oliver!"

"Buuuu," croaked the green lump trying to kill him. It had lunged from the bushes two minutes ago when he came out to get some air.

He should have known better than to go anywhere alone, but he had needed time to think.

Look where that had got him.

"Zinnia!"

He caught one of the vines by mistake. The green lump looked at him. He looked at it.

"Uuuuuul." It opened its mouth, showing scary large teeth. "Baaaaaaa."

Its throat started to glow.

That was bad.

That was very bad.

Gadge dropped the vine.

Zinnia shot out of the house and buried her spear in the green lump's chest.

Or where Gadge thought the chest should be.

It…

Deflated kinda.

That was disgusting.

"What was that?" Zinnia asked.

"A mutt. It was trying to kill me."

"State the obvious why don't you?"

"Thanks. For- Not letting it."

"That's what allies do isn't it?"

Yes, in an alliance of two, where both of them could win. But they were an alliance of three, and there could only be two Victors.

Oliver limped out of the house. "What happened?"

"Mutt attack. You would be dead." Zinnia yanked her spear out. "Saying that, you would both be dead. Neither of you better die on me, you hear me?"

"Yes Zinnia."

"Yes Zinnia."

"Good."

The Capitol anthem rang out. For one insane moment Gadge thought they were memorialising the dead mutt.

"Attention tributes!" came the voice from… well, he knew it wasn't the sky. The islands above them?

"There are now nine of you remaining! Congratulations on making it this far!"

Data should have made it this far.

Data should be here.

But Data was dead.

And she was dead because of these fucking Games.

It wasn't fair!

"In honour of your great courage and achievement, we at the Capitol are holding a feast for you at midday today. Simply follow the signs. You may choose not to attend, but I'm sure the supplies could be… game changing. Good luck tributes, and may the odds be ever in your favour."

A feast.

They held a feast every few years, when the Games had been too boring for the audience, who wanted a bit more blood, or to shake up a Games already going well.

Oliver said the obvious question. "Are we going?"

"You aren't," Zinnia replied. "We are."

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda (18)**

The signs for the feast soon appeared, rising up out of the ground. There were none of the weird animal people around today, and she and Orion followed the signs easily. He held her hand tight.

They were so close now.

When she was reaped it felt like the end of the world.

In order for one of them to live the other had to die.

One without the other was no good.

But now they could both win.

They could both live.

They could both go home.

Astoria would never curse the stench of the sea or the rough storms or her boisterous siblings ever again.

She would give anything just to see them again.

Orion squeezed her hand. She squeezed back. One two. That was how it had always been.

"At least Ten's out now. The only big threat left is Maximus."

And Valkyrie, but the little twelve year old hardly counted. Astoria still struggled to understand why she would volunteer at twelve years old anyway. There must have been fully trained eighteen year olds that could have taken the slot.

"There are the girls from Six and Eleven and the boy from Seven too."

"Seven's lost his girlfriend and the girls aren't big threats."

"We shouldn't underestimate them though. They've made it this far."

Orion nodded and drummed his fingers against his trident.

They reached the edge of the island, where a rope bridge ran out over the water.

"I'll go first. Cover me."

Astoria nodded and nooked an arrow as her brother stepped out onto the bridge and edged out across it.

One of the human-animal mutts appeared a short distance away. This one was a dog thing that began to charge towards her. Astoria fired. The arrow buried itself in the mutt's head.

It kept running.

Astoria jumped onto the bridge. It rocked under their combined weight. Orion sped up to get to the other side. The mutt skidded to a stop at the end of the bridge, growling and barking.

The arrow was still stuck out of its head.

That was incredibly disturbing.

Astoria scrambled to the other side.

Orion drew his knife and began to hack through the rope. Astoria drew hers and sawed through the other side. The bridge collapsed into the water. The mutt snarled and ran off, the end of the arrow waving as it moved.

"That is a very disturbing mutt," Orion said.

"Yes it is. Why didn't it die?"

"Bad shot?"

"I don't make bad shots."

"I'm kidding. Come on."

The signs pointed to their left. They exchanged looks and kept moving.

 **District Eleven Female, Zinnia Kane (17)**

She and Gadge followed the signs over the next island to a golden bridge that only stretched halfway over the water to a silver island a short distance away. There was a ring of thin trees around the shore, but through them she could just about see a raised chunk of land and lumps that might have been the waiting gifts.

In earlier Games the feasts had been a time to deliver desperate tributes badly needed supplies, food, first aid, weapons, or armour to protect against another tribute's specialised weapon.

These days they more often held special gifts. Powerful weapons, amour, special twists.

Game changers.

Not many tributes missed the feasts these days.

If she'd been a better swimmer she could have swum it, but she wasn't, and they didn't know what was in that water, so they waited patiently for midday.

On the next island over to her right, she could see the girl from Six crouched at the end of her bridge. In the distance to her left were two figures in pink. Two, which meant either the twins from Four or Max and Valkyrie.

Either one was bad news.

Both pairs would be fighting to remain together in order to gain the joint victory.

But she needed that joint victory just as bad.

Even if there were three of them right now.

Three, when only two could live.

She glanced at Gadge. He was the stronger competitor, simply because both his feet worked right, but…

But…

But Oliver was her District partner.

He was home.

He stood by her from the beginning, but…

But…

But that didn't mean Gadge deserved to die.

Zinnia shifted her grip on her spear.

Someone was going to die in the next half hour.

It wasn't going to be her.

It wasn't going to be Oliver.

It might be Gadge.

He and Valkyrie would be the easiest targets, followed by the boy from Seven and the girl from Six, because they were the only ones not in an alliance, the only ones without someone to watch their backs.

She wouldn't have even brought Gadge, but if there were three bags or three gifts for the three of them then she wouldn't be able to carry them all. Even if there was only one, better to have one person to grab and one person to defend.

Gadge was a better choice for such a task.

Gadge was a better choice in all respects.

But-

Zinnia glanced at the girl from Six.

She glanced back and stuck her middle finger up.

Zinnia scowled and returned the gesture.

Fuck her then.

 **District Eleven Male, Oliver Farmer (14)**

He knew why he'd been the one chosen to wait behind, but that didn't mean he liked it.

If he'd not known Zinnia and Gadge like he did, not had the faith in this alliance, he'd have believed they left him here to leave him, to split up the alliance.

But Zinnia would never do that.

From the beginning of these Games Oliver had wanted to see her become Victor, wanted to send her home to her family.

He'd have died so she didn't have to.

Now he didn't have to.

Two of them could go home.

But if it was him and Zinnia, then Gadge had to die.

And he didn't deserve that.

No one deserved that.

Not Gadge.

Not Data.

Not Maizie.

Not Sierra.

Not Isaac.

Not the District One girl Mazie killed.

Not any of the fifteen tributes dead so far.

Not any of the hundreds of tributes that had died before them.

But-

Oliver wasn't entirely sure if he could die so one of the other tributes could survive.

Not unless that tribute was Zinnia.

He fingered the rock he'd pulled from the ground beside him, toying with it in his hand.

He'd seen tributes before who could hit someone hard enough with a rock to split their skull.

He slipped the rock into his backpack.

He hated the thought, hated the way it made him feel sick, but-

Zinnia need never know.

The anthem rang out, signalling midday. Somewhere not too far away the feast had started.

If all the other tributes had gone, that was eight of them at that feast.

At least one of them there would not come out of the fray.

Oliver hoped against hope it wasn't Zinnia.

He squeezed his eyes closed, bit his lip. Minutes ticked by. A cannon rang out.


	48. Day Nine Part Two

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

A big thank you to HowtheHoursgoby and Dreamer for your reviews on the last chapter.

I'm sorry for the slight delay on this, I've having some wifi problems.

* * *

 **District Six Female, Kara Transson (17)**

When the anthem rang, the half a bridge in front of her began to stretch out, like elastic or hot cheese, lengthening until it reached all the way across the water.

Kara started running as soon as it started to grow.

Feasts were always dangerous, but she'd be damned if she was missing out on whatever boon they might have sent her.

The muscular dark skinned girl from Eleven was on the bridge to her left, with a smaller figure that was moving too fast for the boy from her District, which meant the kid from Three.

Two of the remaining tributes were only twelve.

Two easy kills for someone.

Her feet hit the grassy ground of the island. Keeping her machete gripped tight in one hand, she darted through the thin trees. The island was small, and in the centre was a rocky table, topped with bags of different colours. Kara spotted hers in an instant, a medium sized pale blue one with a large black '6' printed on it.

She burst into the clearing only a moment before the twins from Four.

The girl nooked an arrow to her bow. Kara fixed her eyes on her bag, darted across the clearing to snag a strap, and swung the bag up to use as a shield as the Career fired. Her brother sprinted towards her as Kara swung the bag onto her back and raced towards the nearest bridge. He chased her a little way across it and then seemed to think better of it and turned round to return to the island.

Kara kept running anyway.

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone (18)**

The clearing was chaos within seconds of him entering it.

He was so glad he had left V where it was safe.

Orion, who he hadn't seen since the bloodbath, was chasing the girl from Six, who already had her bag. Meanwhile, Astoria was collecting the large pack for Four from the rocky table in the centre of the clearing, apparently completely ignoring Zinnia and Gadge, who was _right fucking next to her_ collecting the small grey bag marked '3.'

Gadge was only twelve.

The same age as V.

But at this stage in the Games, that didn't matter.

Couldn't be allowed to matter.

There were only eight of them left, and only two of them could live.

That meant six of them had to die.

And in order for him and V to live, one of those six had to be Gadge.

Max clutched his sword a little tighter.

Astoria sprang over the table, her braided hair flying about her head, and ran to help Orion, who had turned his attention to the boy from Seven.

Gadge had done nothing to him. Not like the criminals in the grey room.

But-

But he and V had to win.

"Gadge, c'mon!" Zinnia shouted as she sprinted away from the table. Gadge hurried after her. Max raised his sword.

It cut down through the base of Gadge's neck.

Blood sprayed from the wound.

The small body crumpled to the ground.

A cannon rang out.

Someone screamed.

Zinnia.

She was stood by the trees, staring at the small body on the ground. Her dark eyes fixed on him.

 _"_ _You're dead Two!"_ she screamed, and started to run at him.

Max didn't want to take his chances with an angry and vengeful strong tribute.

All too many times they had seen Careers killed by the allies of tributes they killed. And he was alone, which made things one on one.

Equal chances.

He snatched the red bag marked '2,' easily the biggest, and sprinted back towards his own bridge.

Zinnia didn't chase.

At the back of his mind, he couldn't help wondering how he would have felt if that was V she just killed.

 **District Four Male, Orion Achoda (18)**

The Six girl sprinted out onto the bridge. Orion followed a short way, but Astoria was still on the island. If they separated now, they might never find each other again.

If they went down, they went down together.

He stopped.

The girl from Six reached the other side of the bridge.

Orion turned and moved to return to Astoria. The boy from Seven appeared at the edge of the clearing. He looked like he'd lost a fight with a hammer, with bruising across his face and blood splattered across his onesie.

Orion sprinted towards him.

Astoria joined him, nooking an arrow to her bow as she moved. A cannon boomed as she fired and the arrow narrowly missed his shoulder. He managed to grab his bag and darted for the trees. Orion followed with Astoria at his shoulder. They followed the boy from Seven across his bridge, which led to an island covered by trees.

Astoria swore. "Where'd he go?"

"Not far, he was injured."

And with his girlfriend dead, he wouldn't be in a good state of mind.

Orion glanced through the trees, searching for any sign of the other tribute. He seemed to have vanished.

"There's another tribute down anyway. You see who it was?"

"The kid from Three I think."

"Huh."

That made a sick kind of sense. He was the smallest, weakest tribute at the feast. Orion had to wonder why Eleven had decided to bring him. He had noticed Maximus hadn't brought Valkyrie, and Eleven hadn't brought her District partner.

Perhaps she'd had some ulterior motives in bringing him. After all, there could only be two Victors.

 **District Two Female, Valkyrie Slate (12)**

A cannon boomed.

Fear gripped at her stomach.

 _Max._

What would she do if that was his cannon?

She would be alone again, and alone for good this time.

V clutched one of her knives tightly. Max was strong, he was one of the strongest tributes left, even with Orion and Astoria still out there.

It couldn't have been his cannon.

It could have been the boy from Eleven, or the boy from Three who was only her age, or the girl from Six (who had seemed a little unhinged in training and the interviews).

It had to have been someone else.

She paced back and forth behind the barn where she had agreed to wait. A herd of sheep were grazing in front of the barn. V had decided not to take chances on them being mutts (however cute the tiny ball of wool skipping around the field was) and so remained behind the barn.

A large figure appeared a short distance away. V grinned. She'd known it couldn't be his cannon. He jogged over to join her, carefully avoiding the possible mutt sheep. A large red backpack was slung over his back. Blood was splattered across his chest.

"Are you okay?" V asked.

"Yeah." Max brushed a hand across himself. "It's not mine." He dropped the backpack between them.

"Who died?"

"Gadge. The boy from Three."

V's heart skipped. Gadge was her age. And he was dead.

That left her as the youngest – and weakest - tribute in the arena by a large gap.

She nodded.

"You wanna see what they sent us?"

She nodded again. They sat down and opened the backpack. It contained only three things. The first was what looked like a pair of metal wings, with a tag attached with her name on it.

"No wonder this thing was so heavy! What in Panem is this?"

V turned it over in her hands. There were straps attached to run over her arms and buckle around her waist. She fastened them. There was a button on her right strap. She clicked it. The large wings sprang out and hummed blue, lifting her a foot from the ground. She yelped. Max grabbed her foot. "What-! Come down from there!"

She pressed the button again. The blue hum faded and she dropped to the ground with a thud.

"I have no idea why anyone decided that would be a good idea. Or helpful."

Max raised his eyebrows. V sighed. "Thank you to the sponsors for your gift."

 **District Eleven Male, Oliver Farmer (14)**

It felt like a painfully long time before Zinnia returned.

Alone.

She met his gaze.

And he knew.

Her lower lip quivered. Oliver hurried over and wrapped his arms around her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded against his hair. "I'm fine. I'm fine, I'm fine." She was shaking so much he couldn't believe that. He pulled her over to one of the trees, where she collapsed. "It was only a second. I only looked away for a second."

Oliver hugged her tight. "It wasn't your fault."

This was the Hunger Games.

Tributes died.

Tributes.

Kids.

Children.

Except-

Except now there was only two of them.

Two of them.

Two Victors.

They could both get out of here.


	49. Night Nine

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games. A big thank you to everyone who has shown this story support!

* * *

 **District Eleven Female, Zinnia Kane (17)**

She got too far ahead.

She should never have got so far ahead.

But-

She got too far ahead.

She never should have left him.

She should never have got so far ahead.

Except-

She got too far ahead.

She forgot how young he was.

She never should have left him.

She should have kept him closer.

She should never have got so far ahead.

And yet-

She got too far ahead.

She only looked away for a second.

She forgot how young he was.

She stopped thinking of him as a child.

She never should have left him.

She ought to have kept her eyes on him.

She should have kept him closer.

She only looked away for a second!

She should never have got so far ahead.

However-

Now there was only her and Oliver.

Only her and him.

They were District partners.

They left their home together.

They came this far together.

And now that there was only two of them-

They could win together.

She could take him home.

She could introduce him to her siblings.

She could give him a family (not his family, but a family all the same).

She could live, and he could live, and they could both live, and no one else had to die.

Except the other tributes.

And Maximus.

Zinnia gripped her spear tighter.

Especially Maximus.

He had allied with them!

She had trusted him!

And he-

He-

He-

Every time she blinked, every time she closed her eyes, she saw that sword come down, saw it slice through Gadge's neck, saw him die, saw his body fall.

She never should have left him.

She should have kept him closer.

She should never have got so far ahead.

The sponsors had sent a metal contraption for Oliver's leg to help him walk better. He paced circles around their camp, familiarising himself to it.

Also in the bag was a loaf of bread from Eleven, a pack of crackers, and a packet of jerky.

Not much, but there were only eight of them now.

Eight.

Only eight.

"Oliver," she said, and he stopped his pacing.

"Hm?"

"There's only eight of us."

He stared at her.

"There's only eight of us left." Her voice cracked. "We're in the Top Eight."

A smile split across his face.

"We're in the Top Eight."

Of course, also in the Top Eight were four very deadly Careers who wouldn't be pulling any punches now that they were the Top Eight. The twins from Four would want to win with each other just as much as or even more than she wanted to win with Oliver. Maximus wanted to win with Valkyrie, that much was evident from the two of them wandering around to search for each other, though what he was doing with her, especially at this point in the Games, Zinnia wasn't sure.

Maybe he had a thing for little girls.

But then she allied with Oliver against all odds.

She chose him against all odds.

They were both still here against all odds.

There was the boy from Seven, who looked as though he could put up a fight, though if they ran into him before any of the Careers went down Zinnia wouldn't be against a last-minute team up to even out the scales.

Then there was the girl from Six, who she would also have offered a team-up if not for the fact the Capitol hated the girl and to be honest, she was a little unnerving.

So unless they could find the boy from Seven in roughly twenty four hours, it was Oliver and her against the world.

For the first time since she entered this damn arena, Zinnia would take those odds.

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

The sponsors had sent him bread, crackers, peanut butter and an axe with a note from Hazel that said it would cut through anything.

Anything.

Woods.

Stone.

Fire.

Tributes.

More precious than that though, and much more precious than the axe, was the photograph. It had been taken during their last night in the Capitol – it must have been – and showed him and Willow curled up in the bed together, her scarlet hair splashed over his chest. Hazel had attached a note. "Remember it always ends in heartbreak. Remember what you're fighting for."

Tupelo kissed the photograph and held it close. "I remember what I'm fighting for."

He was fighting not just for him, but for Willow. He had to win this, he had to survive, he had to live now for both of them.

He had to.

Because she was gone, but he was still here.

If he died though, her death meant nothing.

If he died, she would be forgotten.

If he died, she would be one more faceless, nameless tribute, one more face on the screen during Games season.

He had to live.

He had to live for her memory.

For the house they wanted.

For the children they wanted.

For the life they wanted.

He had to live.

"I will live," he whispered. "I will. I, Tupelo Barker, am going to be the Victor of the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games, and I am going to find those children, and I am going to raise them in her name."

It was what she would have wanted.

He hefted his axe and swung it into the nearest tree.

The crack as it broke through the wood startled him and he nearly didn't move aside fast enough as the great beast came down.

Tupelo smiled. "My thanks to the kind sponsors. I won't hunt. She wouldn't want that. But I will defend myself, and I will win these Games."

He was going to be the one walking out of this arena at the end of this.

He had to be.

He just had to be.

Tupelo hoped he looked and sounded more confident than he felt.

He certainly hoped the cameras couldn't see the tears rising in his throat.

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone (18)**

Even after being initially sceptical of her sponsor gift, V was having great fun gliding here and there around the field on her wings.

Max supposed she was still a twelve year old girl.

A deadly twelve year old girl, but still a twelve year old girl.

And this twelve year old girl had a new toy that could make her fly.

Of course she was going to play with it.

Of course she was.

"Would you come down from there?" he shouted at her position on the roof of the barn where a sheepdog had herded the sheep inside a little while earlier.

"Anyone could probably see you from miles away!"

"Anyone could probably hear you from miles away," she retorted, but she flew down anyway.

"Turn those things off. Honestly."

V sighed and switched the wings off. "They are pretty cool though."

"Admittedly," Max muttered.

His sponsor gift had been a matt black bodysuit with a note attached.

 _Wear this._

 _Fear not._

 _For nothing can pierce._

 _This suit._

Their notes were getting worse.

He was sure their notes were getting worse.

He was also sure they were doing this just to aggravate him.

Damn it they were so annoying!

Also creepy.

Never forget how creepy they were.

But mostly just annoying.

He had pulled the suit on almost immediately, finding it covered him from toe to neck, even having gloves attached like his long-dead onesie once did. V sparred with him using her knives, and they found the very unhelpful note was indeed correct: none of her blades could pierce the material.

Max smiled.

This gave them such an advantage over Astoria and Zinnia and their ranged weapons, as well as anyone who fought him close combat.

He felt indestructible.

Of course, he had to remember he wasn't.

The downfall was it didn't cover his head.

And Astoria would almost certainly shoot for his head, his heart, his right lung and his liver.

It was what Careers were trained to do after all.

So they still had to be careful, and not show themselves off like Little Miss Firefly.

The anthem boomed out.

Max lifted his head towards the sky without thinking and then remembered what he was about to see.

V felt for his hand without asking.

He took hers and squeezed it tight.

She was home.

She was safety.

And above anything – above everything – she was comfort.

Gadge's face appeared in the night sky.

Gadge who was only twelve.

Gadge who only a few days ago he had sat and broken bread with.

Gadge who only a few hours ago he had driven a sword through his neck.

Gadge who he had killed.

Gadge who he had murdered.

Gadge who was the same age as V.

Gadge who was only twelve.

V squeezed his hand tighter. "These things must be done," she said, reciting the mantra of the academy. "Sacrifices must be made."

"All's fair in the Hunger Games."

"And may the odds be ever in your favour."

The odds weren't in Gadge's favour.

But they might just have turned in his and V's.

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda (18)**

One more tribute down.

Granted, it was the boy from Three, who… well, he wasn't much of a threat, but he was down.

It was one less competitor to worry about.

"You know what this means," Orion said laconically.

Astoria hummed an agreement and turned her new toy over in her hands. "We're part of the Top Eight."

The sponsors had sent them both new tridents, sleek black wicked looking things with barbed tips and a button on the side that they had quickly learnt turned them into Tasers like some Peacekeepers had. They had also sent a new set of twelve arrows for her bow and a loaf of bread from Four.

They were all fine gifts, and doubtless expensive.

Crazy expensive.

But then again-

People loved them.

The Twins from Four, the Water Dancers who could become beautiful and enthralling twin Victors if (when – ififif – when) they won.

"They'll probably be going to interview the family tomorrow. Wonder if they'll try Arno."

"They'd be wasting their time. I'd rather see Halley and Lyra do it."

Truth be told, she would give anything to see any of them do anything right now.

Okay, so maybe she was never that close to anyone else in the family other than Orion, but now that she was here, now that she was so far away from them, she wished she could see them just for a moment.

And not as deranged mutt creatures.

She'd even like to see Ariel the little brat.

But they were close now.

So close.

Painfully close.

So close it hurt.

And yet-

She slithered to her feet and stalked around the campfire to drop into Orion's lap, resting her head against his shoulder. "Tell me we can do this."

He wrapped his arms around her waist. "We can do this."

"Tell me again."

"We can do this."

Astoria kissed his ear. "Say it again."

"We can do this."

She wrapped her arms around his neck. "We can do this."

"We can do this."

They had to do this.

She couldn't lose him and he couldn't lose her.

They had been together all their lives – and even before them.

She couldn't lose him.

He couldn't lose her.

They would die without each other.

She would wither away to nothing, she was sure she would.

"We do this together," she whispered.

"We do this together," he agreed.

"Or not at all."

And there were still six remaining tributes in their way.

 **District Three**

Between a pregnant woman and a twelve year old, no one in District Three had expected a Victor this year. Gadge Bishop had got much further than anyone ever expected, and his friends and neighbours and friends of friends and neighbours brought gifts and condolences for his family.

His younger brother, Spark, was devastated by his death, and on his insistence his parents would take him to visit the triplets.

Perhaps in years to come Spark would become a very outspoken opponent against the Hunger Games. Or perhaps he would be Reaped into the Games himself.

* * *

 **Eulogies**

 **District Ten Male, Gadge Bishop (12) killed by Maximus Darkstone of District Two**. **Placed ninth.**

Gadge was the District Three twelve year old genius. In my original planning, he was also meant to die in the bloodbath. But he got pretty wrapped up in Data's storyline and the big alliance with the District Eleven tributes, and, much like Sierra, I just came to like writing for him. Because he was originally meant to be a bloodbath character, however, he was also one of the very few characters that I never truly considered for becoming Victor, and once Data died, I knew he was going to be soon after. I guess he could have done it alongside Zinnia, but… he did not.


	50. Final Eight Interviews, Part One

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

Okay, so here we are with something slightly different! A big thank you to everyone who's shown support so far. There's an updated poll for Victor on my profile, so feel free to drop a vote in there!

* * *

"We're live in five," came the voice in her ear. Lights swept across the stage and the numbers 134 hung high in the air glowed and pulsed with light.

"Three."

The lights at the front of the stage dimmed and the holloscreen began to drop from the top.

"One. And action."

Felicity Fierce smiled out at the audience.

"Good morning Panem!"

The audience screamed their approval.

"I can't hear you!"

They cheered louder.

"Welcome, everyone, to the Final Eight interviews broadcast for the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games!"

The cheering reached fever-pitch.

"It's been a long and exciting journey, but we have our Final Eight tributes! A massive congratulations to Valkyrie Slate, Maximus Darkstone, Astoria and Orion Achoda, Kara Transson, Tupelo Barker, Zinnia Kane, and Oliver Farmer! Ladies, gentlemen, and all folks of Panem, two of these eight tributes could be our newest Victors!"

More applause.

"Yes, I said two! Because as we all know, the Gamemakers this year have spoken to the President and agreed to a rule change which has been made only three times in history! This year, there can be two Victors!"

The audience screamed their approval. There were, of course, three remaining Power Pairings, as they had been dubbed, and a bitter war was raging between supporters of the different pairs. Indeed, amongst the crowd she could see people waving flags with 'Orion+Astoria 4ever' encircled in a love heart; others waving banners and sporting badges with 'Max+V 4 Victory,' styled so that the word 'victory' dropped down from the first V; and only a few sporting green leafy banners shouting 'Zinnia+Oliver 4 the win!' Zinnia and Oliver were the underdog pairing and the least powerful of the pairings. No one really expected them to win.

"We have teams in Districts Two, Four, Six, Seven, and Eleven waiting to let me speak to the families and friends of the tributes, so I won't keep you guys waiting any longer! First up, it's our little wildcard from Two, Valkyrie Slate!"

The audience cheered and whooped. Valkyrie, the youngest tribute from Two in a very long time, had been a controversial figure from the very beginning. Two normally produced exclusively eighteen year olds, and some were angry that they were missing out on their bloodthirsty Careers because of her, but yet others had fallen for her charm and fierceness. So far, she had topped polls for most and least favourite tributes, for who people thought would die in the bloodbath, for who people thought would die in the first three days and who they thought would reach the top Twelve, for who they thought would die before the Final Eight and for who they thought would get there.

Unsurprisingly, there was nothing from the District Two reapings. The first shot was of her in her parade costume, growling and snarling at the crowd during the chariot rides. It transformed into a shot from directly after the parade, when she accidentally tore Diamond's costume off, before fading to a few shots from training, including one where she followed the twins from Four over the balance beam. Next up was a clip from her private session of her defeating opponents in the simulator, which faded into the shot from the bloodbath of her fighting Diamond and then falling from the island, seemingly to her death. There were a few images of her alone, and then her reunion with Maximus was played out to the full, with her shout of 'Max' ringing out over the speakers. Finally it faded to the image of her wearing her new wings and standing on the barn roof, gazing out over the land. That faded slowly to black and an image of her name imprinted against the District Two seal took its place.

"Valkyrie Slate everyone!" Felicity shouted. The audience screamed and applauded.

On screen appeared an image of a cosy looking bedroom, with a couple sat on either side of a bed holding a young girl with cropped dark hair and Valkyrie's blue eyes.

"You must be Mason and Victoria. I'm Felicity Fierce, interviewer for the Hunger Games."

"Nice to meet you Felicity," said Mason.

"This would be Atalanta I take it?"

"Yes," replied the girl who had a moment ago seemed to be asleep. "I'm Valkyrie's sister."

"Nice to meet you all. Why don't you tell me about Valkyrie?"

"She's my baby girl," whispered Victoria. "And I never- I should have spent more time with her."

Atalanta squeezed her arm.

"I never showed her enough affection. Maybe that's why she's… become like this."

"Do you want to tell us more about that?"

Mason shook his head. "It's not our fault. We're not bad parents; we've been so busy with Atalanta. Valkyrie, she can take care of herself. Isn't this proof of that? Look at her!"

"Yes, look at her indeed! How do you feel about her journey?"

"I just want her home," Atalanta said. "I don't care about the money, or the medicine. I just want her to come home and be a little brat again."

"Well, it looks like you might well get your risk. Despite her age, Valkyrie has been doing remarkably well over the course of these Games. Of course, she is now the youngest tribute remaining, and her ally has made an enemy in the form of Zinnia."

"That girl's no threat. I don't think she could even kill. Our Valkyrie could take her out."

"We'll see what happens there! What about her relationship with Maximus? How do you feel about that?"

"I'm glad," Atalanta said before her parents could say anything. "I wasn't much of a sister even before I got sick. It's nice she's got someone she can rely on now."

And rely on him she really did need to do. Valkyrie had a massive target painted on her back as the youngest and most vulnerable of the remaining tributes.

"Do you think she can rely on him?"

"I'd like to think so," Victoria replied. Mason gave her a warning look.

"What about her? Can he rely on her?"

"As much as she's able, yes," said Atalanta.

"Is there anything you would like to say to Maximus's family?"

Victoria swallowed. "I'd like to say thank you. I know he's your family, but you've never given up on her. I know they can bring this home."

"Is there anything you would like to say to Valkyrie if you could?"

"Come home to me," Atalanta replied.

Tears rolled down Victoria's face.

"I don't care. I don't care about any of it. Just… make sure you come home."

Her words echoed around the hall, which was suddenly deathly silent despite all the support and affection and loathing the Capitol had for Valkyrie.

"Thank you very much for speaking with us today! The family of Valkyrie Slate everyone!"

The audience clapped as the image faded and Atalanta's words continued to be played on loop around the hall.

"Next up, it's Valkyrie's partner and the second half of the Powerhouse from Two, Maximus Darkstone!"

The hall erupted into cheers yet again. Again the video skipped the reaping and moved straight to the parade, showing off Maximus in his chariot costume. It then moved straight to training and his rivalry with Diamond.

"I'll be leading the pack," he said during his interview.

They all saw how that turned out.

It skipped to the bloodbath and his battle with Colby before he ran – too late – to Valkyrie's aid. Next up was his battle and pursuit of Diamond, followed by his brief uneasy alliance with Zinnia's alliance and then a shot from a distance of him setting off alone to search for Valkyrie. The irony of course being that shortly afterwards, she would take his place in that very alliance. The reunion too was played in full from his perspective, this time in black and white, followed by the clip of him killing Gadge during the feast, blood spurting up to coat his chest and face. It finished with a shot from last night of him in his bodysuit holding his sword and faded to an image of the District Two seal with his name printed over the top.

"Now, in an unusual turn of events, we aren't going to District Two for the Darkstone's interviews. And that is, of course, because they're already right here in the Capitol!"

The audience screamed their approval, no doubt knowing what was coming.

"All the way from District Two, it is an honour to introduce Octavian, Decima, Jeana, Grayson, and Jasper Darkstone, our favourite Victor family!"

Aero and Natalie, Octavian's parents who had started this legacy, were of course missing, but that was a small detail. It was exceedingly rare to have all the Darkstones together like this.

"Octavian, Decima, it's good to see you again."

"Likewise Felicity," said Octavian, who she had interviewed a few years ago for Jasper's Final Eight and Victory.

"Jasper, good to see you're doing well."

"Thank you," he muttered as he took his seat.

Jeana and Grayson gave her identical, unnerving smiles.

There was a good reason those two weren't as popular as the rest of the Darkstones.

If and when Maximus won, she had a feeling the family would tactfully shove them out the limelight. They weren't exactly good for publicity.

Just creepy.

Really, really creepy.

Super creepy.

Anyways.

Interviews.

"Why don't you tell me a little about Maximus? We know he's the baby of the family!"

Decima smiled widely, showing some of the savage charm she had when she was eighteen. "That's true Felicity. But he's strong, maybe even the strongest of my babies."

"He ought to be, I trained him," grumbled Octavian.

"His weakness is his heart though. He always had a soft heart as a child. I thought he'd grown out of it, but now..."

"Yes. We've all seen his relationship with Valkyrie develop over the course of the Games. How do you feel about that?"

The parents looked at each other. Clearly there was some disagreement there. The media would be all over it once the interviews concluded.

Surprisingly, it was Grayson and Jeana who answered.

"She's fierce," Jeana said.

"And strong."

"She might be twelve."

"But she's proved herself one of Two's best."

Their mother glared at them.

"And what do you think of their partnership? Do you think they can stay together?"

"She won't turn on him."

"And he'd never turn on her."

"They can do this," both twins said at once.

"Well, we heard what Valkyrie's family wanted to say to you. Do you have anything to say to them?"

"Stop hoping," Decima snapped. "Maximus should never have brought her into the Careers in the first place; he was a fool and a softhearted idiot. She is dra-"

Octavian kicked her.

"Don't worry about it," said Jeana.

"They've got this in the bag."

"No one else stands a chance."

"It'll be a double Victory for Two this year."

"Just you watch."

All of Panem was watching.

That was part of the problem.

"Thank you very much for speaking to us today. It's been an honour."

Octavian smiled. "The honour is all ours Felicity. I'm sure we'll be seeing you again in a few days for our son's Victory."

The lights dimmed as the Darkstones were escorted from the stage. Felicity certainly felt better now that Grayson and Jeana were away from her.

"Now, they shocked everyone with their reaping, and they've kept the punches coming through the chariot rides to their private sessions, interviews and finally to the Games themselves! Our second powerhouse pairing folk, it's Orion and Astoria Achoda!"

This time the applause was almost deafening. It could have blown the ceiling from the building. Orion and Astoria had become massively popular, to extremes that Felicity had certainly never seen before, not when she was a host nor ever before that.

The people loved them.

They loved them so much in fact that Felicity had her suspicions about the motives behind this rule change.

Their video began, of course, with that now infamous image of them at the reaping with their hands clasped and held high in the air. Silence fell over the audience. On screen, the image continued to a prolonged shot from the parade of them dancing, spinning around each other like glistening fairies.

Was there any wonder, really, that they were so ridiculously popular?

There was a brief shot from the interviews , recordings from both of their interviews played side by side with their voices combined saying 'we're not used to being apart' over the speakers.

Next came the bloodbath and their first kills, Orion's of Logan and Astoria's of Briar. They left as the island began to fall apart, abandoning their allies and the Career pack. The shot morphed into their kill of Electra.

"We don't need anyone but each other," echoed over the speakers.

That had certainly proved prophetic.

Next was their escape and ambush of Colby, followed by the ill-fated battle with him. There were some sobs from Felicity's friends and coworkers after that one. It was followed by their escape to level three, which morphed into a black and white shot of the film as the two battled for their supplies and chased the other tributes only to fall short. Finally, a black and white image of the two of them curled up together during the last night faded onto the screen.

"Together or not at all," echoed through the hall.

"Together or not at all!" shouted their supporters. It had become somewhat of a catchphrase associated with them.

The image faded to one of the District Four seal, with Orion and Astoria Achoda printed in bold blue letters over it.

"Now, it's time to go live to District Four and find out exactly where those two came from!"

The crowd screamed their appreciation. On screen, the names faded, followed by the seal, to be replaced by a camera feed from Four showing a cramped, cosy looking sitting room. The twins' six siblings were sat on and around a tattered looking sofa. There was no sign of a man who might be their father.

"Greetings from the Capitol to District Four!"

"Hello Felicity," said one of the oldest sisters, either Halley or Lyra according to the files.

"It's good to see you! Why don't you introduce yourselves for everyone?"

"I'm Halley," said the one who had spoken, a plain looking girl with none of her younger siblings' beauty. "I'm Orion and Astoria's oldest sister. This is Ariel and Zaniah."

The two much younger girls on either side of her legs raised their hands in turn.

"I'm Lyra," grunted the other older girl. "And this is Sirius and Perseus." She waved a hand at the two boys flanking her and Halley. They lifted a hand at their names.

"It's good to meet you! Isn't it folks?"

The audience behind her screamed their approval. The smallest girl, Ariel Felicity thought, bared her teeth at the screen.

"Why don't you tell us a little about the twins? What are they like at home?"

"They spend a lot of time working and training. They've very focused and dedicated."

"Yes, and we've seen here in the Capitol that those two have a lot of love for each other. Are they like that at home?"

"Too much," muttered golden haired Lyra. Halley kicked her.

"They've always been like that," Halley said.

"They're certainly close! And I wouldn't say there's such a thing as too much love! Would you folks?"

The audience behind her booed.

"I would," grumbled Lyra.

"Your brother and sister are clearly very close."

"Too close. It's not natural," muttered Halley. Felicity decided to change the subject.

"How do you feel about their progress so far?"

"They've done so well, they're not letting anything stop them."

"They never have," added Lyra.

"Go Orion!" shouted the youngest girl suddenly.

"Go Astoria!" shouted the other girl. The smaller one punched her in the arm. Halley and Lyra each grabbed one of them and pulled them apart. The audience laughed.

"Everyone back here in Four is rooting for them. And I know they can do this, they can come home."

"What would you say to them if you could?"

Halley drew in a deep breath. "I'd tell them to keep fighting. They can make it out of there together now. When there could only be one Victor, I knew they'd both go down, but now they can both win, they will go for it tooth and claw. I'd tell them I'll be behind them every step of the way."

"We all will," added the older boy.

"Victory for Four!" cheered his brother, flashing the V sign that in the Capitol had become a symbol for Valkyrie and Maximus at the screen. Of course, he probably didn't know that.

"I'm sure the twins would be glad to know they have such a supportive family behind them! The Achodas from Four everyone!"

The six of them waved at the camera as the feed cut out to be replaced by an image of the District Four seal.

That was very nearly a catastrophe.

"Now, before we move onto District Six, we have a short break! Feel free to buy refreshments and visit the toilets, and we will return to conclude the interviews shortly!"

* * *

 **Author's Note**

If it feels like Orion and Astoria's section was slightly longer, that's because it was. I was trying to keep the interviews at roughly 500 words per tribute's family, but theirs was combined, obviously.


	51. Final Eight Interviews, Part Two

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! Here's the second half of the interviews!

* * *

"I really nearly put my foot in it with that last one."

Tallulah leant into her chest and kissed her nose. "Don't worry about it. You couldn't have known."

Felicity kissed her head. "I probably should have guessed though, really."

"Felicity, we're starting up again in thirty. Tallulah honey, you need to leave," Fantasio called. Tallulah sighed and slid off her lap.

"I'll see you on the other side."

Felicity reached a hand towards her. "See you on the other side." She straightened out her dress, puffed out her hair, and settled back in the chair.

"Alright, we're live in three. Two. One."

The holloscreen dropped.

"Welcome back folks, to the Final Eight interviews for the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games!"

The audience clapped and cheered.

"First up, from District Six, it's Kara Transson!"

Silence.

Absolute silence.

Not just quietness, but a heavy, oppressive, suffocating silence that sucked the air from your lungs.

The video started with a shot of Kara from the reaping, slinking up to join Logan on stage. The camera zoomed in on her face as the image faded to the chariot rides, Kara's arms strictly followed. Training and the interviews were skipped and the footage plunged straight into the Games, showing her fleeing the bloodbath and wandering the arena setting various things alight. It lingered for a while on the fire that killed Tyla, which Kara stood and watched, the flames playing across her face. Kara's laughed echoed through the hall.

"Watch me burn brothers and sisters."

It skipped again to her battle with the mutts, which was then followed by the feast, showing her charging in to snatch her backpack and flee. The last image was one of her from the night before, stood staring up at the night sky.

There was still no applause when the video ended.

There was no #teamkara here in the Capitol.

"Kara Transson everyone! Now, let's take a trip to District Six and speak to some of Kara's neighbours and teacher."

Old neighbours and teacher, actually, but Felicity had been given strict orders not to mention that. Any mention of the Great District Six Fire was kept under strict control here in the Capitol. And it seemed that no one could catch hold of any of the family that she had mentioned, which didn't come as surprise, so the production team had scraped up what they could.

'What they could' turned out to be an elderly couple in their late sixties, a slightly younger man in his forties, and a pudgy woman in an apron.

"Greetings to District Six from the Capitol!"

"Good morning," said the younger man, her teacher.

"Why don't you introduce yourself for everyone?"

"I'm Landon Arkle, I was Kara's primary school teacher."

"I'm Herman Miles. This is my wife Carissa. We were Kara's next door neighbours."

"And I'm Harrier West. Kara and her brothers used to come by my bakery all the time."

"It's nice to meet you all, isn't it folks?"

There was no reply from the audience.

"Well, why don't you tell us a little about Kara?"

"She was an angry child," said the older man.

"Always running wild," agreed his wife.

"Tearing up and down the street. That mother of theirs never had any control over them."

"Kara was a difficult child," agreed the teacher.

"I… see. And what do you think of her journey so far?"

"She's a fighter that girl. Always has been. It doesn't surprise me she's come this far."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Do you think she'll keep fighting then?"

"Oh, she'll absolutely keep fighting. She knows nothing but fighting."

"That's not fair!" snapped the baker. "She could be a sweet girl sometimes! It was her mother beat that out of her!"

"She was always a monster; you just don't want to admit it!"

"If you could say anything to Kara," Felicity interrupted, "right now, what would it be."

"Keep fighting honey," replied the baker. "Don't let them beat you down."

"Thank you! The friends and neighbours of Kara Transson everyone!"

This time there was a smattering of applause. The images faded, to be replaced by one of the District Six seal.

"Next up is a tribute who's been through quite the journey! It's our beloved lover-boy, Tupelo Barker!"

The crowd livened up again for that one, cheering and screaming. Tupelo was popular, popular enough that he had got enough sponsorship for the feast to send him an axe that could cut through almost everything and a personal trinket, something which must have cost nearly as much as the axe.

The video started at his reaping as he walked up to join Willow, the girl he didn't know he loved at that point, and shake her hand. The crowd 'aww'd.' It moved ahead to the parade, showing Tupelo in his costume as he waved to the crowd. Next up was a clip from the interview.

"Willow is the most amazing person I've ever met. She's sweet, and she's caring, and she'd sell her soul to save yours if she had to."

There were a few sniffles from the audience. The images moved on to the Games, showing the bloodbath and their battle for supplies, followed by their desperate escape. That was followed by clips from their scattered battles as an alliance and then the destruction of the alliance as he and Willow killed Silas and Tyla walked away. Their journey continued, and a lingering shot of them kissing framed in red and pink was shown just before their battle with Colby and Willow's ultimate death. Tupelo's grief was shown as he wept for her, followed by a shot from the feast as he grabbed his backpack and left, pursued by the twins.

The last shot was one of him sat staring at that photograph of Willow.

"What a journey it's been for him! Now, let's go live to District Seven and speak to his family to see what they think!"

On the screen appeared a shot of the inside of a cabin. A men, two women, and a teenaged boy were huddled together on the sofa.

"Greetings from the Capitol to District Seven!"

Surprisingly, it was the boy who answered. "District Seven wishes a good morning to the Capitol."

"Thank you, it certainly is here! You must be Pine!"

"Yes. And this is my sister Lily." He touched the younger woman's arms. "These are our parents, Cedar and Oaklanna."

"It's good to see you, isn't it folks?"

The audience screamed their approval.

"Now, why don't you tell me a little about Tupelo? What's your relationship with him like?"

He shrugged. "He's my brother. I love him. We're not super-close, but just… brothers."

"Until we saw him with Willow, Tupelo's always been a man of few words," explained his father.

"Oh, I see. And what did you think of his relationship with Willow?"

"He certainly seemed to love her. I'd have loved to meet her," said Oaklanna. "She seemed like a very strong, passionate young woman. I wish he'd introduced me to her before."

Pine gave his mother an odd look, but he didn't say anything.

"Tupelo's had quite the journey through the arena. What's that been like for you back home?"

"Like hell. He's our boy, and to see him out there, like this… It isn't right."

There were a few boos from the crowd.

"What would you say to him, if you could?"

"I'd tell him to keep fighting," said Lily before anyone else could speak. "I'd tell him never to give up, never to look back, and never to back down. I'd tell him I don't care what he does or doesn't do, he's still my brother, and I want him back by my side." A tear rolled down her cheek. "I'd tell him I love him."

Felicity steadied herself. "Thank you for your inspiring words. The Barker family from District Seven everyone!"

The audience screamed their approval. The image faded to one of the District Seven seal. Felicity took a sip of water. "Now, next up, it's our last remaining Power Pairing! First, it's Zinnia Kane!"

The crowd cheered their approval, though it was nowhere near the levels it had been for the other Power Pairings. On the screen, Zinnia's video started with her reaping as she strode up onto stage and took the mic.

"I know Eleven hasn't had a Victor in a long time. I'm going to fight to change that."

And fight she had! The video skipped ahead to her and Oliver pulling Sierra onto their chariot during the parade, followed by a few brief shots from training, and then charging straight ahead into the bloodbath, where she fought for supplies and barely spared three of her allies a chance as she charged after Oliver's group. Next was the battle with Diamond and alliance with Maximus, followed by a few more brief shots and then the fight with Silas's alliance and Sierra's death. It continued on to their battle to get to level three and Maizie's sacrifice, followed by Data's giving birth and placing the babies in the boxes. There was a brief clip of her and Gadge fighting the mutt, and then that faded into a clip from the feast as she grabbed the supplies for Eleven and ran ahead – too far ahead – as Maximus killed Gadge. The camera zoomed in as Zinnia spun round and fixed on the boy from Two.

"You're dead Two!" screamed over the speakers, echoing around the hall. "You're dead… dead…"

It ended with a clip of her and Oliver from the night before, holding hands and gazing at Gadge's face in the sky.

"Zinnia Kane everyone! Without further ado, let us go live to District Eleven to meet her family!"

The feed on screen cut to an image of a tiny, cramped kitchen with seven people, two adults and five teenagers, huddled at one end of the kitchen table.

"Greetings from the Capitol to District Eleven!"

The man at the head of the table grunted a reply. His wife glanced at him and the two young girls nearest him edged away slightly. Perhaps they had just found out why Zinnia was so prickly.

"Good morning everyone," said the oldest teenage boy, Saigon if Felicity remembered the information correctly.

"Good morning! It's good to see you! Why don't you introduce yourselves for everyone here?"

"I'm Forrest," said the man. "This is my wife Rose, and our brats." He waved a hand at the teenagers, clipping the smallest girl in the shoulder. She huddled closer to the older girl next to her.

"I'm Saigon," said the oldest boy. "This is Robyn, Juniper, Susan, and Daisy." He pointed at his siblings seemingly in age order.

"Thank you. It's nice to meet you. Now, why don't you tell me a little about Zinnia?"

"That bitch is gunna die," grunted her father. "One less mouth to feed."

The smallest girl burst into tears and threw herself, wailing, at her oldest brother. He patted her awkwardly on the back. "Zinnia's the strongest person I know, and the best si- big sister I could have asked for."

Nicely saved.

"She acts like she's all tough, but she's soft on the inside. She always looked out for us, and I know she's taken that boy, Oliver, in to look after as well."

There were 'awws' from the audience. Zinnia and Oliver were doubtless going to have a few more supporters and sponsors after that speech.

"What do you think of her relationship with Oliver?"

"Useless brat," snapped their father. The second youngest girl wiped away tears.

"I think he's good for her. He's made sure she stays herself instead of losing herself. He's exactly what she needed."

Damn, Felicity was pretty sure she was going to die from all the sweetness if he kept this up.

"And what about her journey so far?"

"Idiocy," grumbled their father.

"It's been their journey Felicity. They've done this together the whole way. And they've done so well, they're still doing so well."

"What would you say to Zinnia if you could?"

"I would say it to her and Oliver both. I say stay together and keep your heads up. You've come this far by relying on each other, so don't let mistrust set in now. We all love you so much, Daisy and Susan can't sleep for fear that something might happen in the night. We're all waiting right here for you to come home."

Felicity was pretty sure there wasn't a dry eye in the hall.

"Thank you very much Saigon! I think that is exactly what she would need to hear right now."

"Little bitch," muttered her father.

"Thank you for speaking with us today."

"Thank you for giving us the chance Felicity."

"The Kane family from District Eleven everyone!"

The crowd screamed and cheered even louder than they had for the twins.

Felicity sincerely hoped that poor boy hadn't just painted a target on his back for next year's Games.

"Finally, last but not at all least, we have Zinnia's other half! It's Oliver Farmer folks!"

Probably carried by the enthusiasm for the previous interview, the applause filled the building. The video started with Oliver limping onto stage, zooming in on his little face. It was followed by that same shot from Zinnia's video of them pulling Sierra onto their chariot after she was thrown from hers. Next was a montage of him and Zinnia in training, including his time on the balance beams and stepping stones. A clip of his interview played and his voice rolled around the hall.

"I have faith in Zinnia to lead us and keep us all together. She really deserves to win, and I'll be behind her the whole way!"

It kept going as the bloodbath played and Oliver struggled over the stepping stones to the island beyond.

"Zinnia has a family she deserves to go back to and take care of. I don't have anyone like that. The decision is obvious."

Zinnia ran to catch up and the scene faded into their battle with Diamond and then their reunion with Gadge and Maizie. Next was the trip to level two and then the death of Sierra, followed by the battle with the zombies. Next came Data's death, and then a shot of him watching Zinnia as she and Gadge left for the feast, followed by one of him finding and pocketing that stone. A clip from his reunion with Zinnia played, and finally a shot of them sat together from the last night as the image faded to the District Eleven seal with Oliver Farmer printed over the top.

"Oliver Farmer folks! Now, we know Oliver's family all died, so we're going live to the orphanage to speak to the lady who has been taking care of him and some of his friends from there!"

"Greetings from the Capitol! You must be Ms Fowl!"

"That's me," replied the woman, touching one of the girls as she fidgeted. The smallest one waved at the camera.

"Why don't you tell me a bit about Oliver?"

"Well, Oliver came to us about a year ago. As you know, his family all perished in a terrible fire that destroyed their house and a few of those around it, though they were the only ones killed."

The smallest girl's lip quivered. "I want Oliver to come home."

There were a few 'awws' from the audience.

"And what's Oliver like?"

"He's always been a quiet boy while he's been here. Keeps himself to himself. I am surprised he's got so close to that Zinnia girl."

"And what do you think of his relationship with Zinnia Kane? They obviously care for each other a lot."

"Go Zinnia!" shouted the smallest girl. Ms Fowl tapped her on the head.

"Aye. With his condition he needs someone to lean on and help him and obviously he's chosen Zinnia to be that person."

"I wouldn't say that necessarily. The two of them have clearly become very close over the course of these Games."

Ms Fowl pressed her lips into a line.

"Mm."

"What do you think of his journey so far?"

"He's lucky to have made it this far. I never expected him to."

There were a few gasps from the audience.

"Cut this one short," said Fantasio.

"Ms Fowl, if you could say anything to Oliver right now, what would you say?"

"Good luck."

"I love you Oliver!" shouted the smallest girl defiantly. Ms Fowl tapped her on the head.

"Let her speak," said a voice from behind the camera on their side. "What do you think of Oliver sweetheart?"

"Oliver's the best! He allus takes care of me! I love him this much." She made an indication with her arms. "Come home Oliver!"

"The friends of Oliver Farmer everyone!"

The audience applauded politely as the image faded. Felicity wondered what it was like to have so little love in your life. No wonder he'd been so defeated during his interview. He had probably resigned himself to death.

"And that's it folks, the loved ones of our beloved Final Eight tributes! What an amazing set of interviews!"

If she'd known what was coming, she'd have finished on Zinnia's, not Oliver's. Never mind.

"Anything could still happen yet! Remember, mandatory viewing starts at four today, and you don't want to miss it! It's getting tense now! Enjoy the rest of your day Panem!"


	52. Day Ten Part One

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

A big thank you to everyone who has followed and reviewed this story this far! It means a lot!

Just as a reminder here, the poll on who you want to see as Victor(s) is still running on my profile if you want to vote!

* * *

 **District Two Female, Valkyrie Slate (12)**

"I killed him," said Max.

"What?"

"The boy from Three. Gadge. At the feast. It was me. I killed him."

V gazed at him. "He was only twelve."

"I know."

"Same age as me."

"I know."

"Why'd you do it?"

"Why does anyone kill anyone in the Hunger Games? I want to go home. I want us both to go home."

She nodded and squeezed his hand. "It's alright."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"I thought, maybe… With him being so young… Only your age…" He let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. "I thought maybe you'd hate me."

"I could never hate you."

Max smiled.

"Well, maybe just a little bit."

His smile faltered.

"I mean, you're like my brother. All siblings hate each other a little bit, right?"

His smile widened again. "Right you are little sister." He ruffled her hair.

"Do you miss them? Your family I mean?"

"Yes and no. I mean, Grayson and Jeana keep themselves to themselves a lot. Jasper and I were never really close, he likes to be alone. And mum and dad… Well, they were always pushing me to train. Train, train, train, day in, day out. Sometimes it was fourteen hours a day, seven days a week."

V squeezed his hand harder. "At least my parents let me be free I suppose."

"Do you miss them?"

"A bit. Not as much as I thought I would. I guess we've drifted apart these last few years. They're always so busy with Atalanta." She sighed heavily. "I miss Atalanta."

"I'll get you home to her."

"We'll both get home to them."

There was a moment of silence, but it felt so loud that neither of them could bear it.

"Do you want to meet them?"

"Who?"

V laughed. "My family silly! I've met your siblings, and I've seen your parents at training classes. It's only fair you meet mine."

"Yeah, I guess it is. Alright then, yes. Little sister, I would like to meet the rest of your family."

V giggled.

And then, because no one could be too happy for too long in the Hunger Games, the ground beneath their feet began to vibrate.

V frowned. "What is that?"

Max lay a hand on the ground. "Hoofbeats."

 **District Six Female, Kara Transson (17)**

The island she was on now consisted of funny looking blocky houses. She opened a few of the doors to find that they were more like cardboard screens, there was nothing behind but empty space.

It was actually incredibly unnerving.

At least it ought to burn well.

She nearly missed the deadly blue shimmer of the forcefield, stopping just in time to avoid walking into it.

Had that always been there?

No, because she could see more of the island on the other side. It was right there.

So…

Then-

If she hadn't been looking at it so intently, she might have missed it. The forcefield moved, ever so slightly, towards her. Kara jumped back.

There was eight of them left.

The Final Eight.

The Gamemakers had started shrinking the arena.

Given how slowly the forcefield was moving, it would probably take all day and some of the night for it to reach the other side of the island, which gave her at least another day, but still-

These Games were coming to an end, one way or another.

"Hey!" shouted a voice. Kara spun round, expecting another tribute and holding up her machete, but there was no one there. She frowned.

She heard that right?

Or maybe she was going mad.

Kara laughed to herself.

She was already that!

And then the ground to her right exploded, blasting her with shards of stone and concrete. She yelled and searched for the source, finding it in the form of three small figures floating above her.

"Give it up wrongdoer!" shouted one of them.

Great.

More mutts.

"No one needs fear when we're here!"

Mutts with a rhyming complex, apparently.

The pink one in the middle swooped down towards her, her eyes glowing an unnatural pink.

Kara ran.

The ground behind her exploded.

She so did not need this right now.

A green streak swooped in from the side, slamming into her side with massive force. Kara slashed at it, which turned out to be a small girl with raven black hair in a green and black dress. Her machete left bloody streaks down its cheeks, but it seemed undeterred, even when she dragged the blade over its throat and blood spurted out. Finally Kara managed to throw it off and started running again, fumbling for her lighter.

This time she was ready when the blue streak, an _adorable_ little girl with matching blonde pigtails, swept down towards her.

She lit her dress on fire.

The mutt screeched and reeled away as the flames ate up the material, enveloping her, but when the first stopped burning it still flew, badly burnt, angrier than ever.

Kara kept running.

 **District Four Male, Orion Achoda (18)**

They had been woken up by knee-high mutts shaped roughly like humans firing guns that shot rubber pellets at them.

It was not a good start to the day.

When the mutts noticed they were awake, they started hitting them with hands shaped like 'u's and the plastic guns.

Orion and Astoria had started running.

They hadn't been able to stop since, because every time they did the mutts caught up.

Granted they had stamina, but this was getting ridiculous! And they were getting tired!

They had hoped the mutts would stop when they crossed the bridge, but they kept following. They kept running.

"Maybe we ought to stand and fight!" Astoria shouted, fighting another arrow at a mutt that was getting too near and hitting it in the head.

They kept running.

The mutts kept coming. It hit him all at once.

"They're trying to push us somewhere!"

"I know!" Astoria shouted back.

The mutts kept coming.

A moment later they ran into the girl from Six.

Or she ran into them.

Literally.

She slammed into Orion's chest, sending both of them flying and nearly knocking him to the ground. "Run idiots!"

This day did not get any better.

A rubber pellet hit him in the leg.

It only got worse.

Those things hurt!

Astoria grabbed his hand and tugged him in the direction the Six girl had come from.

Something exploded in that direction.

And worse.

He pulled Astoria to the right, dragging her after the Six girl as they ran. A pink streak shot overhead, red blasts raining down on them.

"Six!" he shouted. "What is that?"

"I don't know but they don't die and they don't burn!" she shouted back.

They kept running.

Astoria fired off an arrow at the pink thing, hitting it in the head.

It didn't even slow it down.

A green streak appeared, shooting along at their other side and blasting green light at them. Astoria cried out as a shot grazed her leg. Orion steadied her and pulled her onwards.

They kept running.

The tiny man mutts kept firing those little pellets at them, the missiles sharp enough now to pierce their clothing and scratch their skin.

They kept running.

At last they reached the edge of the island. The girl from Six scrambled across the balance beam to the other side and took off up a paved road. Orion pushed Astoria ahead and followed close behind, making swipes at the groundbound mutts with his trident.

One of them lost their head.

It bobbed a little unnervingly in the water.

They reached the other side and kept running, quickly gaining on the other girl.

"There's a house!" Astoria shouted, pointing at the building coming up to their next. It would have been an expensive house back in Four, three stories of red brick with huge windows. The girl from Six swerved to the left and threw herself at the door, slamming it behind her.

They soon found she'd locked it.

Astoria screamed and kicked it.

The mutts gathered at the end of the drive.

Astoria swore. "I won't go down like this!"

"We won't go down like this. Come on, there might be another way in."

 **District Eleven Male, Oliver Farmer (14)**

Had he ever mentioned how much he hated the Hunger Games?

Because Oliver was pretty sure he'd never hated them more than now.

They were being attacked by trains.

Trains!

More specifically, trains with faces on!

Who made trains with faces?

"Who makes trains with faces?" Zinnia rasped as though she'd read his mind. "Who the hell does that?"

Capitolites.

The answer was always capitolites.

Also, the trains could talk.

One of them, a little blue one, kept saying 'I am a really useful engine.'

It was beginning to get annoying.

Another one was shouting 'chase 'em! Bump 'em off the rails!'

Which just made no sense at all.

A third just kept shouting 'disgraceful!'

Zinnia swore.

But they couldn't exactly attack trains with their spears, even with Zinnia having a received a new golden plated one at the feast, so they had to keep running. When they reached the edge of the island and scrambled over to the other side, the trains simply hovered over the water.

Damn it!

Damn damn damn!

They kept going, crashing through funny looking trees now and hearing odd sounding animal noises.

How were the trains now slowed down by all the foliage?

Oliver couldn't understand it.

But there were a lot of things in this arena he didn't understand.

They broke through the weird trees into a clearing.

A moment later the boy from Seven crashed through on the other side.

The mutts stopped coming.

Oh.


	53. Day Ten Part Two

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Four Male, Orion Achoda (18)**

They found a way into the house via a backdoor into a kitchen.

The mutts didn't follow.

They'd got what they wanted.

Three of the remaining tributes were now trapped together.

Orion had a feeling only one or two of them were coming out of here alive.

He also had a feeling he knew which two it was going to be.

They were stronger than her, and there was two of them. They worked best together, and she was on her own.

Astoria grabbed an apple from the countertop and bit into it. Orion frowned.

"What? I'm hungry."

"You can eat afterwards. We need to find her." _And kill her,_ he left unsaid.

They left the kitchen into a hallway furbished with wooden flooring and a long mirror on the wall to their right.

Orion hesitated.

He barely recognised Astoria's reflection.

He didn't recognise himself.

They looked terrible.

Their hair was a tangled mess, despite being plaited, and their blue eyes looked hollow, shining out from filthy faces.

When he brushed a hand across the polished glass he left a black smear.

Astoria smiled and tugged at her dark hair. "We look wild."

"We look terrible."

"Aren't you the vain one? Come on, I thought you wanted to find her."

She wasn't in the sitting room opposite the mirror, which she couldn't have been in as the nice white furniture was still nice and white. Nor was she in the dining hall next to the mirror. They made their way up the stairs and found themselves faced with six doors. Wordlessly, they started at one end, finding a bedroom behind the second door and checking in the cupboard and under the bed. Finding nothing they moved on.

"Where are you Six?" Orion shouted. "Come out come out! The audience wants us to fight!"

She didn't show face. They found three more bedrooms, all empty, and a bathroom. That left the last door.

They opened it to find a short flight of stairs.

"Shall we?" murmured Astoria.

"Let's."

They still hesitated. Astoria took his hand. "Together then."

"Or not at all. Always."

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18)**

Dinosaurs.

Those mutts were damned dinosaurs.

Like the toys he used to play with as a kid.

Dinosaurs.

Damned dinosaurs.

They had chased him across the island until he stumbled into the clearing and found himself facing another two tributes.

Well.

Fuck.

Tupelo took a moment to evaluate.

It was the pair from Eleven, a tall, muscular dark skinned girl and a smaller, skinnier boy with a shock of messy black curls and a funny looking boot on one foot.

That's right, he was the one with a problem.

Both of them were holding spears, his wooden, hers gold. A gift from the feast maybe.

Both of them were stood weighing him up right now.

The girl was the big competitor. She had been one of those he could remember being named as one of the big ones in these Games all that time ago when he was still in the Capitol.

When Willow was still alive.

But she was dead now, and only he was here.

He had to win for both of them.

He had to be strong.

He had to do this.

The boy was the weaker tribute, physically, and given his foot, but he did still have that spear.

And he looked so young.

But he couldn't afford to think about that.

Not when he had to win.

Not when he had to go home.

He was so close now.

He had to win for both of them.

And that meant these two had to die.

Tupelo unclipped his axe, his shiny new one, from his back slowly. They all knew if they tried to leave the clearing they'd only be chased back by the mutts. Or pushed up against other tributes.

The only way out of this was to fight, and for one of them to die.

She moved first, charging at him with her spear.

It helped, that she went first.

It made him feel less bad.

It was self-defence now.

He side-stepped and swung at her with the axe, missing by a narrow margin. She spun round and swiped out at his legs, which he avoided, only for the boy to stab at him with his spear. He missed and Tupelo swung his axe down. The boy lifted the spear to protect himself. The axe cleaved straight through the shaft. The girl thrust her spear at him, catching him in the side before he had chance to move. He brought his axe down before she could recover from the move and she lifted an arm to protect herself. The blade sliced down it, drawing scarlet blood.

There was a scream from somewhere.

It sounded a bit like Willow.

He swung his axe at her chest and she stumbled aside, clutching her wounded arm to her stomach, lifting her spear to defend herself.

His blade clanged from the shaft.

It must have been a feast gift.

They both stared at each other for a moment.

And then pain exploded in his thighs.

The boy had just stabbed him with the jagged ends of his spear.

 **District Eleven Female, Zinnia Kane (17)**

Her arm was burning.

Blood was gushing from the wound, warm and sticky against her stomach, running down to her legs.

The boy from Seven tried to stagger forward and raise his axe again. Oliver ripped the ends of his spear out. The other boy screamed and brought his axe down. Zinnia jumped aside and drove her spear into his stomach.

He screamed.

She screamed.

Oliver screamed.

Then jammed the tip of his spear through the bigger boy's throat.

The body dropped to the ground.

His cannon fired.

Zinnia followed it.

Oliver hurried to her side. "Are you alright?"

"Does it look like I'm alright?"

"Right, no, silly question."

"Stupid question," she muttered.

"Show me your arm." He took her wrist and turned her arm over. The gash ran parallel to her wrist, a defensive wound, deep and bloody. Her stomach turned.

"We haven't got a medical kit," Oliver whispered.

"Check him," she rasped, jabbing her good hand at the dead boy. He nodded and hurried over to him, pulling his backpack away and scattering supplies over the ground.

"He hasn't got one either."

Zinnia swore. "Bring me his knife and fetch our wire."

Oliver nodded, passing her the knife and digging the wire from their backpack. It was thicker than she'd have liked, meant for traps probably, but it would have to do.

"Start a fire," she muttered.

He asked no questions.

Crudely, she whittled the end into a point like she had done only once before when her leg bled and bled and her father refused to allow her to see a healer because 'they'd ask too many questions.' Oliver built a little roaring fire. It didn't matter if anyone saw the smoke now. They were coming to the end.

"You need to stitch it up."

"What?"

"Three or four stitches. And then we'll burn it closed."

"Won't that hurt?"

"It already fucking hurts!"

"Good point, good point. Where do I start?"

"Anywhere you please, but preferably on either side of the wound if you would."

He nodded, pinching the skin together and forcing the wire through. Zinnia bit her lip until she tasted blood. Oliver managed five stiches and then tied the wire off, cutting the tail with the knife.

"What now?"

"Hold the blade of the knife in the fire until it glows white, and then press it along my arm."

She had had to do this twice with Saigon, once with Robyn, and once for herself. It would hurt like hell, but it would work. Oliver did as he was told and held the knife in the fire until it was white hot, then held it over her arm. "I don't know if I can-"

She pushed his arm down.

The clearing filled with the stench of burning flesh.

Oliver threw up what little he had in his stomach. Zinnia flexed her fingers. Her arm still hurt, but she could use it, and that was all that mattered.

She just needed to be able to use it.

Wordlessly, Oliver fetched the Seven boy's axe. The blade was still red with her blood. It was too big for him, and he looked like one of those girls from the cartoons Daisy liked who carried the guns that were always much too big for them.

Never mind.

"Can you swing that?"

He swung it around as a demonstration.

"That'll do. Come on, we need to keep moving and let them fetch the body."

Zinnia had a feeling they would be ending this soon enough anyway.

 **District Six Female, Kara Transson (17)**

The attic of the house was… strange.

Crazy strange.

What might have been a computer, though a very old one, sat on a table in one corner, with an office chair in front. Two steps led down to a dipped area with a long red sofa in facing the chimney, which had nothing of interest on it to look at. There were two small coffee tables in the raised section covered in things she'd never seen before.

Unfortunately, none of them looked like weapons.

A large blue box stood in one corner.

Through the round window in the wall, she could see the flying mutts and the little yellow headed men were still lurking at the end of the drive.

At the bottom of the staircase she'd used to get up here, she heard the door open.

The pair from Four presumably.

No doubt the Gamemakers expected them to fight.

No doubt the Gamemakers expected her to lose.

Kara didn't mind that.

Really, she didn't.

She'd made her peace with death a long time ago.

Death came for everyone, men and women, young and old, the healthy, and the sick. No one was immune forever.

That didn't mean she wouldn't like to take them down with her.

Their footsteps thudded up the staircase. She ducked behind the blue box. They entered the room. Both were holding identical wicked looking black tridents. Feast gifts probably. Her feast gift had been a lighter and some food.

Probably she didn't have very many supporters or sponsors out there. Her mentors had cobbled together what they thought she would like instead of sending her anything useful.

That said, Kara did like her lighter.

Very much so.

Fire was good.

Fire was nice.

Fire was her friend.

The boy saw her first, and then his sister a moment later.

They all stared at each other.

The moment was ruined by a tinny, robotic cry of 'intruders!'

It took Kara a moment to work out where it came from.

What was it with today and things she couldn't see at first shouting at her?

The thing in question was a strange looking robotic dog, kind of pentagon shaped, with antenna for ears and a tail.

The three of them stared at it.

"Is that a dog?" asked the girl from Four finally.

"I think so," ventured Kara.

"State your purpose being here," squeaked the dog.

"Uh… tributes in the Hunger Games?" replied the boy.

A plunger slid from the dog's nose and hovered in front of each of them.

"Reasoning is not sufficient. Intruders will be dealt with. Maximum defence mode!"

A red bolt shot over her head.

Just what she needed.

Something else that was going to shoot at her!

The girl from Four grabbed her hand. "Run idiot!"


	54. Day Ten Part Three

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

A big thank you to everyone who has been patient with this story and followed and favourited it. If you haven't already, please drop a vote on the poll for who you think should/want to see win.

* * *

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda (18)**

The tin dog fired red blasts from its nose that impacted against the wall behind her, shattered the window, and scorched past her leg.

That one was too close.

She dragged the girl from Six down the stairs without thinking about what she was doing. The three of them stared at each other on the landing.

The tin dog started to float down the stairs.

They ducked into the nearest bedroom.

"Why did you bring her?" hissed Orion.

"Yeah, why did you bring me?"

Astoria shrugged. "Heat of the moment? Besides, would you rather take your chances with that thing?"

"The last mutts I faced with were stuffed animals, so yeah, I kinda would."

"Too bad."

"Yeah?" She suddenly raised her voice. "Well hey, tin dog thing!"

"What are you doing?"

"We're in here!"

"Shut up!"

"Come and get us!"

"Six!"

"Come on!"

"That thing will kill us all!"

"You think I don't know that?" She rounded on Orion. "You think I care? I've never cared! Why should it matter if I live or die? Why should it matter if any of us do?"

The door shook.

"We're all dead anyway!"

They plunged their tridents into her at the same moment, apparently having had the same thought. She stopped, froze, twitched like a fish on the hook. Astoria wrenched her trident free a moment before Orion. Six's body crumpled to the ground.

"I don't know about us," she said dryly. "But you certainly are."

The door stopped shaking. The humming from the tin dog faded.

It had got what it wanted.

One of them was dead.

Orion opened the door a crack and peered out. "It's gone."

Astoria stared out the window. The army of mutts at the end of the drive was on the move, marching towards the house.

"The other ones aren't. They're coming this way."

Orion shifted his grip on his trident. "Must be time for the finale."

Astoria let out a long breath. "Time to meet our destiny then."

"Together."

She smiled. "Always brother-mine."

 **District Eleven Male, Oliver Farmer (14)**

The axe was a heavy weight in his hand. He swung it clumsily and awkwardly through the vegetation, cutting them a path. Zinnia cradled her injured arm against her chest, clutching her spear with her left.

Who was there now?

Them, that was two.

Maximus and Valkyrie.

The twins from Four.

The girl from Six.

One of the Careers would hopefully take her out before they ran into her.

If they were lucky.

But that left them stuck in the arena with Four careers.

And four tributes who were all just as desperate to go home with their partner as he was to go home with Valkyrie.

They had come this far, but it was almost certainly the end of the line.

How could they stand against a Career, especially one like Maximus?

They had allied with him, the boy was huge, and a trained career. He could probably snap Oliver's neck with one hand.

He had probably done it to some tributes.

What chance did they have?

They were going to die.

"Zinnia," he said.

"I know," she replied, and that was all there was to it.

They were going to die.

He couldn't help but feel a smidgen of pride though.

District Eleven hadn't come this far in a long time.

A very long time.

A very, very long time.

Maybe next year would be different.

Or maybe they would both go down in the bloodbath like they always did. Like he and Zinnia had been expected to.

"At least we proved them wrong," he grunted, clearing another batch of foliage from in front of them.

Zinnia smiled grimly. "Yeah. I guess we did."

There was silence again for a few minutes.

"Hey Zinnia?"

"What?"

"If I go down, don't give up. I meant what I said at the interviews. You deserve this. You should be the Victor. Go home to your family. Me, there's no one waiting for me, but you, you've got your siblings. Don't give up."

"Wasn't thinking of it."

"I'm glad I met you. You made me fight."

She gazed at him for a long moment. "Yeah. You too."

But what chance did two poor, underfed tributes from Eleven have against four trained careers?

What chance had they ever stood?

All the Victors from Eleven in the past had won because they were lucky. They never won because they were strong like Maximus, or fierce like Valkyrie, or sweet like Sierra, or smart like Gadge, or brave like Maizie. They won because they kept their heads down and failed to die.

They won because they had luck on their side.

He and Zinnia had never had luck on their side.

They were the most unlucky people Oliver knew.

They were in the Hunger Games.

They were going to die.

There was a flicker of red from up ahead, just for a moment, enough to make him stop and wonder. But he knew Zinnia must have seen it too, for she had stopped as well.

"Why didn't the mutts come back?" she whispered suddenly.

"What?"

"Why didn't the mutts come back?" she repeated.

Oliver knew the answer in a heartbeat.

Because they were already close enough to the other remaining tributes.

 **District Six Female, Kara Transson (17)**

She was dying.

No.

She was already dead.

Oh, her mind might still be ticking over, but-

She was already dead.

The twins from Four had thrust those tridents of those straight through her chest and lower back. Blood was pouring from the wounds and pooling around her on the floor.

She watched the two of them leave, probably thinking she was already dead.

They were right.

Nothing could save her now.

She wouldn't want it to.

Kara Transson had always been a dead girl.

From the day she was born life had been trying to kill her.

It was just that this time it had succeeded.

She had come into this world kicking and screaming, a dead baby walking, and now she was going out of it the same way.

Kara laughed, the noise bubbling up from her throat. "You think you've won."

Because they would never have accepted her as Victor.

If she'd reached the final three, they'd have made sure she died.

"You haven't won. Don't you get it? Can't you see? You've lost!"

She coughed, spitting out blood.

"All of you, you've lost. Your beloved tributes, your beloved Games, you all lose! This is life! There are no Victors!"

She fumbled for her lighter, watching the flames flicker in front of her.

She remembered that day, watching the fire grow in front of her and wondering at the beauty of it, the raw power.

Back then she wanted to tame it, control it, own it.

She never could.

Some things can never be controlled.

Like fire.

Like her.

Like life, and destiny, and death.

"There are no Victors," she rasped, "because the game has already been won."

She closed her eyes.

"Don't cry for me brothers and sisters. Never cry. Never bow. Never bend. Never break. Never scream for them, for they are the enemy. Run wild, run free, and never forget that your life is already in another's hands. It has been since the day you were born."

She pressed the lighter to the carpet.

"Burn with me brothers and sisters."

The flames roared to life, eating through it eagerly.

"Burn bright."

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone (18)**

The sheep.

The damn sheep.

The sheep he had become much too complacent about, because, let's face it, they were sheep.

They didn't do much.

Now they had chased them across three islands, baaing and braying.

Every time they slowed too much one of them would nip at them, pinching him through the material of his bodysuit.

They couldn't draw blood from him because they couldn't pierce his skin, but they could from V.

Max was honestly more concerned about being trampled to death under their feet if he stopped or, worse, fell.

They kept running.

Or, in Valkyrie's case, gliding. Her feet dangled at roughly head height, the wings propelling her along. That put her out of the sheep's reach at least.

Max knew what was happening of course. He'd studied the structure of the Games enough at the academy, had it drummed and beaten into him by his parents, watched enough past Games to make knowledge come out his ears.

They were being herded.

It was time for the finale.

A cannon fired. Another had gone off only fifteen minutes ago. Maximus hoped it was the pair from Eleven. It would make sense. Either that or Astoria and Orion, but he had kinda always expected them to go down together. It was the kind of thing they would do, so their cannons ought to come one after the other.

There was the girl from Six and the boy from Seven as well. One or both of the cannons could have been theirs.

There was no way really to know until they found out which tributes were left.

He would only know how all the other tributes died once they won and got to watch the recap.

But he couldn't think about that right now.

Whoever the Gamemakers were pushing him towards needed to die, and that was his focus right now. It had to be. What other choice did he have? They had got by so far on luck and survival, unusual for careers, but now they had to stand and fight.

The sheep stopped suddenly.

V nearly flew into a tree.

Her wings turned off and she floated back to the ground.

"They've stopped."

"Yeah."

They glanced about. They must be close enough to another tribute or tributes if the mutts had stopped. Max drew his sword. V drew two of her knives.

Max only wished he knew what to expect.

There was a crunch from in the woodland somewhere ahead of them.

They were about to find out.

He took a step forward, moving slowly now. V covered him, checking the woodland around them like she would have been taught to do in training.

They broke through the trees, just for a moment, and came out face to face with the pair from Eleven.

Zinnia looked murderous. "You're dead Two."

Max smiled.

It would be these two.

People wanted to see him showdown with Zinnia.

Of course they did.

But while she could be angry, and violent, and dangerous, he was a trained career and she was a poor girl from Eleven.

The outcome was obvious.


	55. Finale Part One

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone (18)**

He and Zinnia charged towards each other. Their weapons collided, his sword against her spear. She was injured too he noticed, holding her right arm defensively against her chest as she spun round him.

That ought to make this easy.

A small part of him felt sick at the thought.

He had allied with this girl! They had camped together, taken food together!

He was thinking about her as though she was already dead.

At least it made things easier.

He had to do this.

He had to prevail.

He had to.

For V.

For his family.

He had to win.

And for that, Zinnia had to die.

"He was twelve years old you monster!" she screamed, driving her spear against his bodysuit. The tip prodded him, but failed to pierce.

"This is the Hunger Games!"

"We were allies!"

"We used each other!" he shouted back.

She ducked under a swing from his sword. "You murdered him!"

"I gave him a quick death!"

He had seen it in past Games how deaths could be drawn out, how tributes could last hours, days, dying of blood poisoning or bloody wounds, bites from venomous animals, starvation, suffocation from being trapped in Gamemaker's traps.

He had saved Gadge from that fate.

He had.

And he had to think of it that way, because the other way was almost unthinkable, nearly unbearable.

Now he had to kill Zinnia.

He wondered what Orion and Astoria would do if they got their hands on her. Astoria was the type to flirt and tease, death by a thousand cuts, a show for the camera. Orion was more straight forward, but he would do whatever his sister wanted, whatever she demanded. Of that Max had no doubt.

He wondered where those two were right now, if the cannons he heard had been theirs. It would make life so much easier if they were. Then all he would have to worry about were the Seven boy and the Six girl, individually, instead of a pair of tributes very well versed at fighting together.

"He was a child!"

"We were all children!"

When they entered the arena.

When they left they would be adults, broken and battered.

"How could you kill him?"

"The same way I will you!"

She screamed and charged at him. Her spear blunted against his chest.

"You bastard!"

Max raised his sword and swung it down in an arc.

 **District Eleven Male, Oliver Farmer (14)**

The girl from Two was the only tribute left younger than him.

She was only twelve.

Gadge had been only twelve.

Gadge was dead.

He saw the flash of silver at her hand and ran at her, clutching the axe. He couldn't let her stab Zinnia in the back! She wouldn't go down like that! She couldn't!

The smaller girl turned and bolted, fleeing into the woods. Oliver went after her.

After two minutes, he would start to wonder why.

After three, he would start to fall further and further behind.

After four, his foot would start to ache. The boot provided by the Capitol was wonderful, but it didn't fix all the damage.

After six minutes, he lost sight of her altogether. He kept going for a little while and finally stopped running, limping through the trees and dragging the axe behind him.

Damn.

He'd never felt more useless in his life.

He couldn't even catch a twelve year old girl.

Look at him, he didn't deserve to be Victor!

Zinnia did.

Zinnia was back there fighting a damn career for her life.

But him?

He was nothing, nobody.

He'd got here because he stayed with her.

Oliver stopped for a rest and leant against a tree for moment. Leaning down, he rubbed at his aching foot. His ankle throbbed uncomfortably, and pain shot up and down his leg.

He'd never been more useless in his life.

Tributes like him didn't win the Hunger Games!

Tributes like him died in the bloodbath.

But he was still here.

He was still alive.

And while he was still breathing, he still had a chance.

He could fight.

Oliver gripped the axe a little tighter and set off through the trees.

 **District Two Female, Valkyrie Slate (12)**

For a kid with a bad leg, the boy from Eleven was persistent.

By the time she lost him, she was all turned about and unsure which way was back to Max.

If she just went back the way she came, she would almost certainly run into the boy from Eleven, so that wasn't an option.

She spun her knife thoughtfully between her fingers.

Footsteps crunched through the woodland.

She froze, ducking behind the nearest tree. There had been two cannons earlier, but there were still options as to who it was.

It was the worst possible reveal.

Orion and Astoria.

She supposed she should have seen it coming really. The boy from Eleven had an axe far too big from him, which he had presumably taken from the Seven boy.

She hadn't seen the twins since the bloodbath. They were both filthy and coated with dirt. At some point they had got to ditch their onesies and acquire new clothes, which were stained and streaked with blood and mud. Both of them had wicked looking barbed black tridents, which must have been a Feast gift like her wings and Maximus's bodysuit.

Even under all the filth and blood, Astoria was still the most beautiful thing V had ever seen.

No.

She couldn't think like that.

And she didn't stand a chance against them, not on her own.

Where was the boy from Eleven when you needed him?

She bit her lip and held her breath.

The tree, it turned out, was not a very good hiding place.

Orion looked straight at her.

V saw his mouth move.

Astoria swung her trident round. V had watched them spar during training, seen their deadly use of the weapons.

She switched her wings on.

They carried her straight up, high into the air.

She curled her fingers around her knife and threw.

Astoria ducked and it hit the tree behind her. Astoria raised an eyebrow. "Oh, well now you've just made me angry."


	56. Finale Part Two

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Eleven Female, Zinnia Kane (17)**

She was holding her own against Maximus, but she wasn't sure how she was managing it.

He was from Two.

He was twice her size!

He could crush her!

She ducked out the way of his sword again.

That bodysuit of his seemed to be impenetrable, and it covered him from the feet to his neck.

But that wasn't all of him.

It didn't cover his neck, or his head.

He still had a weak point.

An Achilles heel.

Zinnia held her spear a little tighter.

She had something to aim for.

But it would only work once.

Once she tried it once he would know what was up and defend defend defend those parts, so she would only get one shot at this.

She had to get it right.

She waited until he was bringing the broadsword down again in a powerful sweep and jumped to the side, thrusting the spear at his neck.

The tip had blunted from all the impacts with his bodysuit, but it still pierced.

It pierced straight through.

Blood spurted out, spraying her, coating her face and check and hands.

Maximus gasped, dropped to his knees, choking and bringing up blood.

Zinnia yanked her spear free.

"That one's for Gadge."

His body collapsed to the ground.

A cannon rang out.

There was no sign of Oliver or Valkyrie. He had chased her into the trees, but there hadn't been a cannon, which meant they were both still alive.

She scooped up the broadsword and shoved it through the waist of her onesie before following Oliver into the trees.

Without Maximus, Valkyrie was nothing.

Then there was only the twins from Four to contend with.

The problem there was that Oliver could never stand against them, and she couldn't fight them both.

They had reached the end of the line.

 **District Four Male, Orion Achoda (18)**

Valkrie was floating above their heads, propelled by those wings that had no doubt been a Feast gift.

Probably a reference to her chariot costume.

She threw another knife, but it went wide and vanished into the woodland. Astoria nocked an arrow to her bow, lining up the shot with Valkyrie.

Valkyrie grabbed at a tree branch.

Astoria fired.

The arrow clipped her wings, knocking her off balance, and the little girl tumbled towards the ground. She grabbed at a tree as she fell and managed to slow herself, hauling herself over a large branch and wrapping her arms around the trunk.

Someone wasn't comfortable with climbing.

Too bad, given that she was wearing wings.

Astoria nocked another arrow.

Valkyrie threw another knife. Orion easily side stepped it. She was a better shot than this in training.

A cannon rang out.

Valkyrie jumped and then smiled. She pressed herself closer to the tree, edging around it to put the trunk between her and them.

"You do realise we can just walk around it?" Astoria called as she did just that. Valkyrie shifted so that the arrow pinged from her damaged wings. Orion gripped the lowest branch of the tree and pulled himself up. It was easy enough, like climbing netting. Quickly, he moved towards the smaller girl.

He should never have left Astoria behind.

The thought occurred to him as movement exploded at the edge of his peripheral vision and a small figure jumped from the trees behind her, clumsily swinging an overly large axe.

Astoria avoided it, parrying the blow and thrusting her trident towards the boy from Eleven. He dodged, somehow, and swung the axe again. There was a crackle of energy as it met her trident.

Orion kept climbing.

Astoria could deal with the little boy from Eleven.

She could.

He knew she could.

He grabbed Valkyrie's foot and pulled her down towards him, intending to throw her to the ground. Instead she twisted somehow and threw herself at him, landing on top of him and wrapping her legs around his chest.

He flailed uselessly as he lost his balance and tumbled backwards.

 **District Four Female, Astoria Achoda (18)**

The little kid from Eleven was surprisingly agile for a kid with a bad leg, jumping here and there, swinging the axe at her wildly.

Of course, she could dodge with ease, but he was quite annoying.

Above her Orion had hold of Valkyrie, and then they were falling, tumbling towards the ground.

She screamed with him.

They hit the ground with a crack.

Neither of them moved.

They weren't moving.

He wasn't moving.

Why wasn't he moving?

She forgot about the boy from Eleven, shoving him away with her trident, the prongs poking his flesh as she scrambled to get to Orion.

He had landed on next to Valkyrie, the two tangled together.

A small knife was sticking from his chest.

Astoria could see from where she was that it would be a mortal strike.

She screamed.

She screamed louder than she had ever screamed before.

When she saw Valkyrie was still moving she screamed even louder and dragged her away from Orion and slammed her against the nearest tree. She cried out, scratching and clawing at her arms. Astoria howled and smashed her into the tree again and again and again.

A cannon boomed somewhere in the distance.

The little girl no longer looked like a girl, nor like a human, a mess of flesh and blood and gore.

Astoria stared at what she had done and flung it away before throwing herself down at Orion's side. He lifted a bloody hand to her cheek and traced a line across her cheek.

"I can't do this without you," she whispered.

"Win," he rasped.

"I can't," she replied. "Together, remember."

"Together," he echoed.

"Or not at all."

 **District Eleven Female, Zinnia Kane (17)**

The screaming guided her.

She slashed her way through the thick undergrowth with the broadsword.

How Oliver had gotten through all this she would never know, unless the Gamemakers had just had it all grow up behind him just to slow her down.

Which was a distinct possibility.

At least the screaming sounded female.

That meant Valkyrie or the girl from Four.

Not Oliver.

Not her Oliver.

At last she stumbled out into the clearing. Oliver met her, numb, stumbling over the ground. There was a pile of bloody remains in the bushes and the twins from Four lay together on the ground, coated in blood and filthy. The girl kissed her brother's bloody lips.

Zinnia looked at Oliver.

Oliver looked at her.

She looked at her spear.

He looked at his axe.

Neither of them could do it.

They needed to, but…

She looked so prone and helpless, weeping over her brother's body.

Oliver looked at his axe again.

Zinnia looked at her spear again.

They looked at each other.

They crossed the clearing.

They looked at each other again, took deep breaths, lifted their weapons. The girl from Four even looked at her, but she didn't move.

Zinnia remembered how beautiful she was as they stood in that shower.

"One," Oliver whispered.

"Two."

"Three."

Two cannons boomed.

The spear fell from her hands.

The axe fell from Oliver's.

He stumbled away from the bodies, emptied his stomach. Zinnia took the few steps to his side.

He gazed up at her.

"It's over."

They twined their hands together and wrapped their arms around each other.

This was it.

It was over.

They had done it.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Victors of the One Hundred and Thirty Fourth Hunger Games! Zinnia Kane and Oliver Farmer!"


	57. Aftermath

**Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

 **District Seven**

District Seven mourned Tupelo Barker like they had mourned his lost love. They were to be buried side by side, two souls who might have had a long life together if they had only met under different circumstances.

His brother, Pine, was the glue that kept the family together. When his mother tried to retreat into herself he kept her living, and when his father spent long nights at the pub it was Pine that fetched him home. Every week he and Juniper lay flowers on the two graves and reminded Tupelo and Willow (although they never met her) how much they were loved and missed.

Pine grew close to Dara Green, and perhaps he would raise children with her, or perhaps they would be reaped into the Games back to back, torn apart like their siblings, or perhaps they would go down back to back in a gunfight, together like Tupelo and Willow never could be, smiling.

 **District Six**

There was no one to mourn for Kara Transson. She was buried without ceremony, and none of her siblings attended.

They held their own ceremony in a burnt out warehouse, whispered curses against the Capitol and burned what little remained of her things so she might have them wherever she was now.

"We'll make them pay," her brother Axle whispered into the flames. "Don't worry baby sister. We'll make them all burn."

For nearly six years, parts of District Six would spontaneously catch fire, destroying buildings, warehouses, shops, houses, and lives.

The world, and her brothers and sisters, burnt with Kara Transson.

 **District Two**

Maximus Darkstone was the first of his family not to come home, and no one truly knew how to feel. Jeana and Grayson watched, stony faced, hand in hand, as the coffin was lowered into the ground. Jasper stood apart, shoulders hunched, trembling. Their parents stood at the head of the grave and tossed the first shovelfuls of soil.

Their last son, their final legacy, the one that never came home.

"I told you," Decima said. Her face was red, but she was crying no tears. "That girl dragged him down."

Valkyrie was buried next to him. The Darkstone siblings attended her funeral too, though their parents didn't. Atalanta Slate sat in her wheelchair at the graveside and cried into her handkerchief. In another world, if she'd only been more healthy, maybe this wouldn't have happened.

Jeana and Grayson Darkstone made their way over.

Atalanta decided the twin Victors weren't as scary as they looked on TV this close up and dressed in simple black mourning clothes.

They held their hands out.

Atalanta took them.

The week after the funeral a pair of angels, one large and muscular and one much smaller, sheltered by the larger's wings, appeared between the two gravestones.

They were non-regulation, but no one complained.

Over the next three years, a 'mysterious benefactor' paid for Atalanta Slate's medical treatment. Everyone knew who it was, though no one admitted it.

 **District Four**

Astoria and Orion were buried together.

They came into this world together, they lived it together, they left it together.

Maybe they would finally find some peace and happiness, wherever they were now.

Maybe this had been payment for their sins.

One of their older sisters, Lyra, threw herself into her work on the trawlers, while the other, Halley, continued to raise her remaining siblings.

The youngest, Ariel, only grew more wild and violent with the deaths of her siblings. She couldn't understand why they were gone and never coming back. It didn't seem fair.

Meanwhile, their brother Perseus became determined to do what his older siblings couldn't and raise his family from the gutter.

Maybe they all lived long lives, quiet and harsh.

Maybe they divided when the rebellion came, Sirius, Zaniah, and Ariel to the rebels, Perseus and Halley to the Capitol, and Lyra to the sea, ripped apart by circumstances.

Or maybe, in four years' time, history would repeat itself, as history always did.

* * *

 **Eulogies:**

 **District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker (18). Killed by Zinnia Kane and Oliver Farmer of District Eleven. Placed Eighth.**

Tupelo… Oh, what do I say? In an arena full of crazy clichés and stereotypes, Tupelo was surprisingly normal, aside from the love story with Willow. His stereotype was originally the lumberjack from Seven, later combined with the whole tributes in love angle. Before the Games I did vaguely consider Tupelo and Willow for Victors, but that's been done to death. I think everyone saw his death coming, since with Willow gone it was hard to do much more with his character.

 **District Six Female, Kara Transson (17). Killed by Astoria and Orion Achoda of District Four. Placed Seventh.**

Did anyone ever expect Kara to get this far? Anyone? Kara was, of course, the bitter orphan gang member of District Six taken to extremes. She had no allies, no real plan, and really just wanted to destroy everything she could. She was another of the few characters never considered for Victor, which is actually one of the reasons she got so far: she was an easy character to choose to kill off when I had very few left.

 **District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone (18). Killed by Zinnia Kane of District Eleven. Placed Sixth.**

This one hurt. It really, truly did. Maximus was originally designed as the 'male brute' from Two, the stereotypical 'Cato-clone.' Except by the time the Games came about, he'd developed more as a character, built a relationship with Valkyrie, and was suddenly a massive contender for Victor in my mind. I don't know where it came from. In my original plans, Max was meant to be a villain, but that's just not how it ended up, and that's okay. I think it was better for the story this way.

 **District Two Female, Valkyrie Slate (12). Killed by Astoria Achoda of District Four. Placed Fifth.**

Valkyrie was, of course, the twelve year old career, which is a trope we see much less these days but used to be incredibly popular, along with the tribute volunteering to try and get money/medicine for her sick sister. She was also the most divisive character in the entire story. Throughout the first maybe seventy to eighty percent of the story there were people who loathed her and people who loved her. She topped literally every poll: favourite and least favourite, who should die in the bloodbath and contenders for Victor, who do you want to see die next and who do you want in the Top Eight. It was crazy. By the end, so many people wanted to see her win, but the division for much of the story is what led to this decision. As a side note, it's probably also some form of irony to see her killed by Astoria, who, yes, she was crushing on for most of training.

 **District Four Tributes, Orion and Astoria Achoda (18). Killed by Zinnia Kane and Oliver Farmer of District Eleven. Placed Fourth and Third.**

I'm combining their eulogy since it's not entirely clear which one died first. So Orion and Astoria, the manifestation of the twin Career trope. For anyone who's seen my characters around for long enough, you'll know that this is actually a trope I like using and enjoy twisting around. Orion and Astoria were villains from the start, but I loved that all the more and loved writing for them. They were some of my favourite characters in this story (I know, I know, but I have a super soft side for morally grey and ambiguous characters) and seriously considered for Victors, which would have been fun with them being terrible, terrible people.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Thank you so much to everyone who has followed, reviewed, and supported this story!

Jaj! Thank you again for your support. Also, yes! 100 reviews, awesome! I'm glad you're happy with the choice of Victors, I think my reasoning for it has been laid out above. It was a toss up between these guys and V and Max, but ultimately V's divisiveness cast her down.

Dreamer! Again, thank you for all your support. You and Jaj have both been following right since the beginning, and I know updates got super irregular after everything, so thank you so much for seeing it all the way out. There's a note on Zinnia and Oliver and their victory as the underdogs in the next chapter.

SongofFete! I'm glad you enjoyed it and the victory! I think the death order was sorted out above: it was V and then the twins. Thank you for your support!

Honestly, this fic just came so far from where I started. It was never intended to be this long, but it kind of took on a life of its own in its own mad way, and was super fun to write. There's only one, much, much shorter chapter left now, for Zinnia and Oliver's victory.


	58. Victory

**Victory**

 **Author's Note**

I do not own the Hunger Games.

* * *

Oliver woke alone in a soft bed.

His first thought was for Zinnia.

Why was he alone? They both won didn't they? Where was Zinnia?

"Zin-" he started, but his voice sounded raspy and weak. "Zin- Zinnia-"

Where was she? They won together, he heard the announcement!

He pushed himself up and glanced around the room. It was a small, white space. Several IV lines ran from various sources to his arms. He tugged at them and an alarm began to sound.

Well, if they were already going off...

Oliver pulled the needles from his arm, ignoring the slight shocks of pain, and rolled to his feet. He needed to find Zinnia. His damaged foot threatened to give way under him. Oliver steadied himself against the bed and reached for the door.

It opened before he reached it and a man in a white coat entered. "Oh good, you're awake!" he squeaked in his ridiculous accent.

"Where am I?"

"Ill let your mentors know, I'll sure they'll be delighted."

"Where's Zinnia?"

"Settle down, settle down. You'll see her when it's time."

"Where is she?"

"Hop back in the bed now."

"Where is she?"

Three man held his shoulders and pushed him back against the bed.

"Where's Zinnia?"

There was a commotion in the corridor outside, an explosion of noise.

"Oliver?"

"Zinnia!"

He shoved the man - a Doctor, presumably - aside, and hurried out into the corridor.

"Now see here-"

Zinnia was maybe halfway down the corridor, wrestling with two pink haired men. Finally she shoved them away and rushed over to him, grabbing at his shoulders. "Are you alright?"

"I think so. I think so."

He wrapped his arms right around her. The last thing he could remember was falling asleep with her on the hovercraft.

And now they were here.

Back in the Capitol presumably - Victors of the Hunger Games.

Zinnia rested her head on top of his. "We won."

They won.

Against all odds, against everything that had been against them-

They won.

* * *

Everything after that was a blur of activity. They had to do an interview, huddled tightly together with Felicia Fierce tossed question after question at them.

One of the most popular seemed to be ' were they in love?'

Zinnia looked at Oliver and Oliver looked at her.

"No," she said, "we are not."

He was like her brother, one more to the family, a brother she had been to Hell and back with, and if they slept in the same bed at night because they couldn't bear the thought of being alone, well, no one asked any questions.

* * *

District Eleven was one huge party when they returned.

It had been so long since they lady had a Victor, let alone two of them.

Oliver wondered where all these people were when he needed help before.

* * *

They moved into the Victor's village. Zinnia brought her mother and siblings to live with her.

Oliver brought Sage.

And maybe in years to come they would be a rallying point, two complete strangers who fought for each other the entire way through the Games and won with one another at their side.

* * *

 **Victors**

 **Zinnia Kane (17) and Oliver Farmer (14) of District Eleven.**

So here we are at the end with our Victors!

As for the tropes, Zinnia was the strong, angry, and abused girl (I'd seen several from Eleven at the point this story was started) and Oliver was the kindhearted orphan and street thief.

At first these two were more of a rallying point than anything, forming that huge alliance, but then it became more than that. I enjoyed writing the dynamic between them, especially since Oliver was very much a background character for a long while. I think a lot of people expected him to go down in the bloodbath with his bad leg, and realistically he probably should, but this fic has never been realistic. Eventually they became the underdogs who had just kept surviving and pulled through (ironically being what I originally wanted from Ash), and had gone too far together to separate. They are much quieter Victors than Max and V would have been, but I like that!

* * *

 **Placement Data**

24th: District Eight Male, Calico Weaver, 15. No kills. Killed by Colby.

23rd: District Twelve Female, Briar Flint, 16. No kills. Killed by Astoria.

22nd: District Six Male, Logan Ford, 16. No kills. Killed by Orion.

21st. District Five Female, Electra Balfos, 15. No kills. Killed by Orion and Astoria.

20th. District Five Male, Isaac Watt, 14. No kills. Killed by Tyla.

19th. District One Male, Lucian Prince, 18. No kills. Killed by Silas.

18th. District Ten Female, Sierra Prime, 12. No kills. Killed by Silas.

17th. District Nine Male, Silas Fields, 18. Two kills, Lucian and Sierra. Killed by Willow and Tupelo.

16th. District Twelve Male, Ash Coleman, 13. No kills. Killed by Diamond.

15th. District Eight Female, Tyla Calico, 17. One kill, Isaac. Killed by proxy by Kara.

14th. District One Female, Diamond Blush, 17. Two kills, Ash and Maizie. Killed by Maizie.

13th. District Nine Female, Maizie Miller, 16. One kill, Diamond. Killed by Diamond.

12th. District Three Female, Data Huxley, 18. No kills. Killed by childbirth.

11th. District Ten Male, Colby Marshall, 18. Two kills, Calico and Willow. Killed by Tupelo.

10th. District Seven Female, Willow Green, 17. One kill, Silas. Kill attributed to Colby.

9th. District Three Male, Gadge Bishop, 12. No kills. Killed by Maximus.

8th. District Seven Male, Tupelo Barker, 18. Two kills, Silas and Colby. Killed by Zinnia and Oliver.

7th. District Six Female, Kara Transson, 17. One kill, Tyla. Killed by Astoria and Orion.

6th. District Two Male, Maximus Darkstone, 18. One kill, Gadge. Killed by Zinnia.

5th. District Two Female, Valkyrie Slate, 12. No kills. Killed by Astoria.

4th and 3rd. District Four Male and Female, Orion and Astoria Achoda, 18. Five kills, Briar, Logan, Electra, Kara and Valkyrie. Killed by Zinnia and Oliver.

Victors: District Eleven Male and Female, Oliver Farmer, 14, and Zinnia Kane, 17. Four kills, Tupelo, Maximus, Astoria and Orion.

* * *

 **District Placements**

12th: District Five

11th: District Twelve

10th: District Eight

9th: District One

8th: District Nine

7th: District Ten

6th: District Three

5th: District Seven

4th: District Six

3rd: District Two

2nd: District Four

1st: District Eleven

* * *

A massive thank you to everyone that has followed, favourited, reviewed, and shown interest in this monster of a story!

For anyone that hasn't seen, I have started a new Hunger Games fic called Canis Canem Edit, and it's a partial SYOT! I haven't had any submissions yet, so if you're interested, please do check it out. Bear in mind it's 'M' rated though, and will be nothing like Stereotypes.


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